B&Q owner Kingfisher will stop selling pesticide slug pellets that harm wildlife this week, replacing them with alternatives including copper tape, wool mats and slug traps which has been in development for several years.
The retailer is halting the sale of pesticides which contain metaldehyde, a compound that’s lethal to slugs, ahead of a government ban next year. It claims to be the first major company to scrap them and will remove them from all 1,200 stores and from online.
Metaldehyde, a deadly pesticide, has long been used to control slugs in a range of crops and in gardens, but from spring 2020 will be banned because according to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) it “poses an unacceptable risk to birds and mammals”.
“We know customers care a great deal about their gardens [and] they want to do more to encourage nature and cultivate their green spaces in a way that is good for them and the environment, but that is not always easy to do,” Tim Clapp, head of horticulture at Kingfisher, said.
“That is why we have worked for several years to remove metaldehyde from our supply chain, making it simpler for customers to make sustainable choices and providing real alternatives.”
However, a study last year from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) suggested that some of the popular traditional deterrents used by gardeners against slugs and snails – from copper tape to eggshells – do not protect plants.
In light of the results, RHS garden experts recommended green-fingered householders encourage natural predators such as birds, or use traps or physically remove slugs and snails.