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Image by Markus Spiske

What our life cycle assessment shows

 

In 2026, Wageningen University & Research published the first consistent European dataset on the environmental footprint of growing media, commissioned by Growing Media Europe. It covers twelve constituents and thirty mixes used in seven types of growing, across all sixteen impact categories in the EU Environmental Footprint method.

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Eight of the twelve constituents are based on primary data supplied by producers, so the results describe how growing media are made today.

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"Our study shows that no such 'silver bullet' exists. Every raw material has its own environmental impact."
Jeroen Weststrate, Wageningen University & Research

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Watch the video to better understand LCA in growing media:

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Five findings

1. Climate impact varies widely between constituents. Per cubic metre, wood fibre has the lowest climate impact (15 kg CO₂eq), followed by perlite (33), aged bark and clay (39), coir (64 to 68), mineral wool (76) and bark compost (125). White peat (219), green compost (249) and black peat (390) are highest. For peat, most of the impact comes from carbon released as the peat breaks down during use.

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2. Low carbon doesn't always mean low impact. On the single score that combines all sixteen impact categories, white peat (7.7 mPt/m³) scores better than coir pith (9.0) and coir crush (10.5). Coir's impacts come from farming and shipping, through acidification, particulate matter and other categories, rather than climate.

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3. The mix matters more than any single ingredient. Within one type of growing, climate impact varies up to threefold depending on the recipe, for example from 75 to 225 kg CO₂eq/m³ for tree nurseries. Green compost can have high impact on its own but appears in some of the lowest-impact mixes, used at low shares with wood fibre and bark.

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4. Room to reduce impact differs by sector. Fruiting vegetables, tree nurseries, pot plants and the hobby market have most room to lower the share of high-impact constituents. Young plant production and mushroom growing rely on black peat for structure and disease suppression, and no other material does the same job at scale today.

 

5. Uncertainty is stated. For green compost the uncertainty is large (95% range 166 to 819 kg CO₂eq/m³), because composting systems vary so much. The peat results are more certain, though they depend on assumptions about carbon content and full breakdown.

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What it means

Reducing the environmental footprint of growing media means looking at the whole mix, all impact categories, and how well plants grow in it. A material that is recycled or renewable isn't automatically better, and a mix chosen on carbon alone can be the worse choice overall.

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