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For Peat Sake ­ Peat-Free Garden Campaign

For Release on 11 February 2002

For 60 years, bogs have been mined for moss peat to produce a cheap garden
product. 66% of the moss peat mined from raised bogs is used by amateur
gardeners ­ an alarming statistic! Destroying the natural habitats and
wildlife of the bogs is not something gardeners want to do. It is
undeniable, moss peat is great stuff. It's cheap, sterile, lightweight and
pleasant to handle. But only if we ignore the environmental harm we are
doing to the raised bogs of the Irish midlands where it comes from.

Kicking the peat habit, that's the goal of the Irish Peatland Conservation
Council's spring Peat-Free Garden Campaign. To stop the use of moss peat in
the garden, the campaign will target garden centres, gardens open to the
public, County Councils and the gardening public. The re-cycling of organic
household and garden waste is the key. This has the additional benefit of
reducing the amount of waste that goes to dump sites and it saves gardeners
money! Garden centres will be encouraged to stock environmentally friendly
peat-free garden composts which the gardening public will be encouraged to
use instead of moss peat.

The IPCC's Peat-Free Campaign co-ordinator, Noreen McLoughlin states " Using
peat moss is one of the most environmentally damaging activities that a
gardener ­ normally considered to be environmentally friendly ­ can do.
Garden plants do not need peat, bog plants such as the insect eating Sundew
do. Raised bogs are an important part of Ireland's heritage. They provide
rich habitats for rare flowers, insects and birds. Sometimes they preserve
important archaeology. There has even been well preserved human remains
found in bogs ­ the famous bog bodies."

Unless we act soon, raised bogs will become a thing of the past. Already,
less than 8% of Ireland's original raised bogs remain intact and there are
up to 50 commercial moss peat producers at large throughout the country.
Large scale moss peat extraction has made bog regeneration unlikely, because
the land is drained and the bog surface is completely removed before
extraction starts.

A factsheet on the campaign is available from the IPCC, 119 Capel St.,
Dublin 1, or visit the website at www.ipcc.ie.

ENDS

Further information from: Noreen McLoughlin at Tel & Fax +353-1-8722397

____________________________________
Irish Peatland Conservation Council
119 Capel Street
Dublin 1
Ireland

Tel & Fax +353-1-8722397
Tel +353-1-8722384
e-mail: bogs@ipcc.ie
web: www.ipcc.ie

Action for Bogs & Wildlife

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