Most compost sold in the UK contains peat. Much of it is entirely made of peat. But there are other perfectly good peat-free compost options out there, probably even in your local garden centre.

Worldwide, peat contains a huge amount of carbon, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere to drive climate change. Gardeners account for 70% of UK peat use (commercial growers use the rest). A 60kg bag of peat-based compost has a carbon footprint of around 50kg of CO2. That’s 50kg of CO2 that was, until the peat was dug up, safely locked away in our planet’s largest carbon store. Which means that every bag of peat-based compost we buy directly contributes to climate change.

So let's read the label and make sure we stop buying it!

You can find our Peat Free Leicester campaign facebook page here.