I don’t know tbh @LadyEloise1. We’re in a time of change with regard to peat in Ireland at the moment and so there is still a demand for it even though commercial production has now ceased for very good reasons.
The last Bord na Mona production plant only closed in 2023, so until a few years ago we were exporting loads…though still importing to a degree too, not sure of the reasons why, different product types I guess. We exported a million tonnes in 2016, nearly that in 2020, but that was down to 579,573t in 2021 and 392,853t in 2022. We were still exporting small amounts in 2023 so the change is fairly recent.
Mostly the demand for peat now is for horticultural reasons. There are alternatives but they are more expensive so people don’t want to use them or can’t afford to. Also, changing the products you’re using means a lot of work optimising growth conditions and trouble shooting etc and all this costs time and money…so there’s still a demand for peat by food growers for those reasons. I think that will gradually change, and needs to for environmental reasons obviously, but these things always take time. It’s good we’ve changed to protect our bogs, but it’s been hard on some sectors and on some people unfortunately.
I think the Willow Warm type products are probably a much better choice environmentally than peat briquettes imported from Germany (I haven’t seen peat briquettes locally for a long time though). I agree about the plastic @eggandonion , they must have problems with dampness maybe but it’s something that should be addressed too.