A Lake District business has been recognised again for its sustainability credentials by winning a major industry award, the second in as many months.
Dalefoot Composts, which makes peat-free composts and restores damaged peatlands, has scooped the Sustainability Award at the GIMA (Garden Industry Manufacturer’s Association) Awards for helping to promote and encourage sustainable gardening.
Dalefoot has championed the benefits of using peat-free composts for 25 years. Its nutrient-rich, nature-friendly composts, made from sheep’s wool and carbon fixers bracken and comfrey, are sold in garden centres across the UK and online.
With ‘no need to feed’ and reduced watering, the composts reduce the gardener’s environmental footprint and offer a climate-positive substitute for peat whilst contributing to global greenhouse gas savings. The company is living wage accredited and all of its products are certified for organic growing by the Soil Association.
As well as making eco composts, uniquely Dalefoot also restores damaged peatlands across the UK, reducing carbon release and returning the bogs to functioning, healthy eco-systems. Peat bogs store more carbon than trees and many are now in poor condition, releasing carbon rather than storing it.
The firm’s co-founder, Professor Jane Barker, presented on the culture of horticultural peat at COP26 last week.
The GIMA award judges described Dalefoot as, “a company that has sustainability and the environment at the very heart of what it does. As well as delivering a great peat-free product, its peatland restoration work makes Dalefoot a worthy winner of this inaugural Sustainability Award”.
The GIMA win follows Dalefoot being recognised with the Sustainability and Environmental Impact Award at the Rural Business Awards North last month.
Professor Barker said: “Sustainability – environmental, social and economic – is key at Dalefoot. We’ve always employed environmental best practice, from the sourcing and harvesting of renewable, carbon-fixing ingredients through to the innovative blends, packaging and delivery. To be recognised by the industry, our peers, is wonderful and credit has to go to our hard-working team.”
