Why should I compost?
Composting your garden and kitchen waste (except meat and dairy products) at home greatly reduces your environmental impact. A collection service is expensive, both financially and environmentally. Home composting replaces the need for another collection service in your area.
Home composting...
- Minimises the burden of transporting waste.
- Returns valuable nutrients to the soil.
- Is the best option for household organic waste!
- Increases local biodiversity.
(More info on biodiversity)
Homemade compost is an ideal replacement for using expensive, commercially available compost. Many types of compost you can buy in the shops are actually peat-based. Peat extraction has a massive environmental impact.
Above: The Dunlin, a migrating bird which needs peatlands to survive.
Why not use peat?
Many gardeners don't think twice about using peat and can't imagine using anything else, so they might be surprised to learn that it is a relative newcomer to the horticultural scene. In fact, peat only started to be used widely in the 1950s. Sadly, this led directly to the destruction of some wonderful peat habitats in Britain.
While some of our remaining peatlands are now protected, there are many in other European countries that aren't, and it is these that now supply most of our garden peat.
Where does peat come from?
Peat forms in waterlogged conditions over thousands of years. As more dead plant material builds up, the weight of the upper layers then slowly compresses the lower ones to form peat in an oxygen-free environment.
In the UK, peatlands cover 1.6 million hectares. Around 95% of this area is upland blanket bog, the remainder consisting of lowland raised bog. It is these lowland bogs that are used for peat extraction and of the 70,000 hectares left, less than 7,000 hectares is in pristine or near natural condition.
Why is peat important?
Peat bogs form some of England's most scarce habitats and provide a unique home for many native plants and animals, as well as stopping-off points for migrating birds.
Peat bogs also contain a lot of important scientific information. By extracting cores of peat and examining the different layers we can find out about past weather conditions, helping us to understand current trends such as Climate Change.
The loss of peatlands also contributes to the Climate Change process; they form an important 'carbon sink' holding more carbon than all the World's forests! As peatlands degrade, this carbon is released into the atmosphere.
In the current climate, using peat-free compost is vital in helping to stabilise the sudden and dramatic increase in Climate Change that we have seen over the last 50 years.
For more information, why not view our booklet on Composting and Peat-Free Gardening?
