Growing Media Europe (GME) has published 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 growing media producers to calculate their product´s environmental impact 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,” says GME chairman Juha Mäkinen. “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.”
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.’
When only considering carbon emissions, peat shows a higher score than for other materials, but GME says the total environmental footprint of peat is lower than certain non-peat components. ‘In addition, the carbon footprint of peat is partially offset by the fact that peat is only harvested from previously degraded peat bogs,’ added the association. ‘Degraded peat bogs emit almost 1,000 tons of CO2 per hectare before the groundwater table is reached and emissions stop.’
‘While the growing media sector is constantly investing in lowering its environmental impact, it is important to keep in mind that growing media are responsible for only a very small part of the overall carbon and environmental footprint of growing a plant,’ GME said in a statement. ‘The selection of a growing medium should therefore not only be based 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.’
Photo caption: GME says European peat growing media is only produced from degraded peat bogs