A CO2 capture plant has been built by West Somerset firm RocketGro as it moves toward becoming ‘climate positive’ by the end of 2025.
The company, which was only founded three years ago at Swang Farm, between Nether Stowey and Cannington, would then be the world’s first ‘climate positive’ compost brand.
It actively captures and puts carbon back into the ground, powers thousands of homes with renewable gas, and encourages consumers to embrace greener gardening practices by creating peat and coir-free organic growing media.
Now, it has completed a CO2 capture plant at its biogas facility, pushing RocketGro past achieving net-zero carbon emissions so the business actually takes more carbon out of the atmosphere than it produces.
Managing director Toby Thomas said: “We are on a carbon capture journey, growing the crops at our farm, which we use to create our amazing products, along with renewable energy to power more than 13,000 homes.
“It is all one virtuous circle.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that every time a gardener buys a bag of RocketGro compost, they are actively taking carbon out of the atmosphere.
“Retailers say they want to do more to be sustainable and we are leading the charge in greener gardening”
Mr Thomas started the company with friend Tim Roe, whose family had been farming the 5,000-acre farm for more than 100 years.
They have a mission to help gardeners move away from peat and therefore do their bit to help the environment.
RocketGro manages its farmland sustainably and without using chemical fertilisers and each year processes 25,000 tonnes of food waste and 91,000 tonnes of crops into biogas as the core ingredient for its composts and to power 8,000 homes a day, as well as another 3,300 homes being powered by renewable green electricity.
It equates to 207,906 tonnes of carbon per year not being produced.
The company’s bagging and bottling lines also run on 100 per cent renewable energy produced on site.
It employs about 40 people producing a 24-strong portfolio of premium peat-free growing products, including its flagship Magic Mulch.