Environmental Impact of Peat – Assessed
Growing Media Europe (GME) has issued the first sector-wide Growing Media Environmental Footprint guideline. Developed in strict accordance with the widely recognized European Union LCA standard “Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Methodology,” the report combines the impact of 19 pre-defined environmental impact factors into one environmental footprint, enabling all producers of growing media to calculate the environmental impact of their product using the same calculation rules.
“The guideline is a milestone in assessing the environmental sustainability of growing media across Europe and a huge achievement for the sector. It also shows that there is no ‘good vs bad’ components for growing media but that their environmental impact depends on several factors along the production chain,” says GME chairman Juha Mäkinen.
According to GME, one of the key findings of the report is that ‘peat environmental footprint scores are similar to those of non-peat components.’
If only carbon emissions are taken into account, peat scores higher than other materials, but referring to GME, the overall environmental impact of peat is lower than that of individual non-peat components. Also, the carbon footprint of peat is partially offset by the fact that peat is obtained only from previously degraded peat bogs. The harvested peat is transformed into valuable products used for food production, flower and tree growing, resulting in benefits for the environment and society.
“It is important to keep in mind that growing media are responsible for only a very small part of the total carbon and environmental footprint of growing plants. Because of this, the choice of growing media should be based not only on the impact of the growing medium itself, but also on its recyclability and the environmental footprint of the plant that is grown in it, ” says GME.
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