Archived press release

Eco-Trashing Peat Plant to Shatter Village Quiet

14 August 2003

The silence of a Somerset village is set to be shattered by a £1.8million plan to develop a major new factory to process a massive increase in imported peat. The news will cause dismay and anger amongst conservationists who blame the major supermarket chains for failing to phase out the use of peat from their potted plant, tomato and mushroom suppliers. Instead they are "exporting" the problem of damaging peat-cutting from the UK to wildlife sites abroad.

The development at Meare in Somerset is on the site of an old peat works formerly operated by Fison's. Local residents first discovered the new development when they noticed a significant increase in activity at the plant 10 weeks ago. Investigations have revealed that the factory is now being leased by a company called Vapogro, jointly owned by Somerset and Finnish based companies [1]. Vapogro has not sought planning permission for the new activities at the site, and the local council is now investigating.

The Vapogro plan is believed to be the first example of a peat factory being used solely to process imported peat. It follows the Government's decision, in early 2002, to designate Thorne Moors and Hatfield Moors in Yorkshire and Wedholme Flow in Cumbria as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) to stop destructive peat cutting on these precious wildlife sites. The three sites represented some 60 per cent of peat extraction in the UK. The Government, English Nature and conservation groups called on retailers to ensure the shortfall was not made up by peat imports, but by sourcing growing media made from recycled green waste.

Garden suppliers B&Q and Homebase have accepted that peat is an inherently unsustainable product, and have developed strategies to phase out peat sales by 2010 [3]. But other retailers have been slow to follow suit. The supermarkets, in particular, have failed to work with professional growers on the issue and peat is still widely used in the production of potted plants, tomatoes and mushrooms. The peat to be processed at the factory in Meare is thought to be destined for professional growers.

The UK already imports a significant amount of peat (23.6 per cent of the total used in 1999). Some 2000 hectares, an area 10 times the size of Monaco, are damaged in the Republic of Ireland each year to supply peat for UK horticulture. But the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been the source of the most dramatic increase in peat imports. In 2000, 13.5 per cent of all peat sold came from Estonia [4].

John Tynan, local resident in Meare, Somerset said:

"These people have gone ahead without considering the people locally. They are trying to push through their new peat processing plant without any consultation. Our lives will be made a misery with hundreds of lorries loaded with imported peat going to and from the site on small country roads. We are looking to Mendip District Council to fully investigate what opportunities are available to stop this destructive development."

Friends of the Earth Corporate Accountability Campaigner Craig Bennett said:

"It is nothing short of pathetic that the supermarkets have completely failed to follow the lead set by B&Q and Homebase and adopt a clear policy to go peat-free. As a result, the quiet lives of people in this Somerset village will be shattered, and precious wildlife sites in Ireland and the Baltic will be destroyed.

"If this is the scant disregard that big business shows for the environment over a long running issue such as peat, what hope is there for newer, less well documented issues? Surely, the time has come for a change in UK company law to force companies to take social and environmental concerns seriously?"

Notes

[1] More info on Vapogro is available at: www.kekkila.fi/intl/corporate/vapogroinbrief.htm

[2] More information on the 2002 Government deal to save peat bogs is at: www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/20020227103730.html

[3] In April 2001, B&Q announced their policy to go peat free by 2010. For more information, see:
www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/20010416000110.html

Later that year, Homebase published a similar policy. B&Q has recently confirmed to Friends of the Earth that they are on track and expect that, by the end of this year, the total volume of growing media and soil conditioners sold by B&Q will contain a minimum 50 per cent peat alternatives.

[4] Making A Lasting Impression - The Impact of the UK's Wildlife Trade on the World's Biodiversity and Peoples - WWF / TRAFFIC, May 2003.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust