Waitrose has announced its plans to stop selling peat-based compost by 2022.
The move comes as the grocer attempts to help its customers adopt more sustainable gardening practices.
Instead, the store is implementing its new policy ahead of government plans which will ban the sale of compost containing peat to beginner gardeners by the end of the current Parliament in 2024.
“If rainforests are the lungs of the world, then peat bogs are its armour – helping to create a vital balance in our atmosphere by storing over a fifth of the world’s soil carbon,” John Lewis Partnership director of ethics and sustainability Marija Rompani said.
“Peat bogs have been plundered for decades without fully understanding the consequences and this simply cannot continue.
READ MORE: Waitrose trials sustainable packaging for strawberries
“This is something that many of our customers feel strongly about and it’s because of this that we’re bringing forward our plans to remove all peat from our home compost offering.
“This will be the first step only but it will set us on our journey to shifting the industry’s reliance on peat and help accelerate the pace at which we find suitable alternatives.”
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) senior policy officer Olly Watts added: “The RSPB is delighted to see Waitrose committing to help gardeners address the climate and nature emergency.
“By only stocking peat-free composts from the beginning of next year, Waitrose is helping keep these invaluable carbon sponges safe in the ground where they can continue to be a thriving home for wildlife.”
This commitment from the grocer is the latest in its list of sustainability commitments.
The commitments include exclusively sourcing from carbon net zero UK-based farms by 2035, halving customer food waste by 2030 and a reduction in carbon emissions and zero use of fossil fuels across its 4800 transport fleet by 2030.
