ENVIRONMENTAL activists picketed a local garden centre in an attempt to get it to support their action.
Members of the Mossley and Saddleworth branch of Extinction Rebellion, dedicated to raising awareness about climate change, staged a peaceful protest about the sale of peat-based compost at Newbank Garden Centre in Dobcross.
The sale of peat to gardeners in England and Wales is to be banned by 2024 under plans published by the government.
And Extinction Rebellion members believe stopping it sooner can only help Tameside and its surrounding areas.
“Peat protects our environment by storing carbon,” said activist Holly Marie Saunders. “If it is dug up, carbon is released which is bad for the environment.
“As a group, we are interested in preventing climate destruction; or at least slowing things down.
“So, the action was an awareness raising tool to allow the local community to access information why it is negative to buy compost that contains peat.
“Nearby Saddleworth is 75 per cent moorland and the peat is a natural resource which supports so many different species.
“All the things we love about living in this local area to my mind relate back to our moorland.
“We previously wrote to the garden centre to ask them if they had considered committing to ending their supply of compost containing peat by a certain date.
“Other big organisations have already committed to doing this.
“We are not saying, ‘Don’t go to the garden centre. We love the garden centre and we want to support it.
“But as a local business it should respect the environment in which it operates
“In order to do that it should stop selling peat-based compost or at least commit to a certain date to stop like other retailers do.”
While the majority of compost products contain peat, Newbank, which also operates garden centres in Royton, Newton Le Willows and Radcliffe, does offer customers peat free alternatives.
But Holly Marie believes Extnction Rebellion’s message is gaining traction, particularly among younger people.
She added: “We spoke to lots of people out for Mother’s Day celebrations and generally we got a good response from them, including children.
“One 12-year-old spoke so eloquently about climate change and why he thought it was an important issue.”
• For more information on the local group email: xrmossleyandsaddleworth@gmail.com