Garden Centre Poo Poos Patio Heaters
April 13, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Patio Heaters - they're bad
Britain’s biggest garden centre chain is to cease selling patio heaters across its 108 stores as part of its effort to go green.


Wyevale Garden Centres announced the decision before the Easter weekend, traditionally one of the busiest of the year for garden centre chains. A spokesperson said that the stores intended to encourage customers to switch from polluting gas heaters to more sustainable stoves that burn recycled wood chip. Wyevale also took the opportunity to make known their plans to go carbon neutral by 2010.

Wyevale’s chairman, Jim Hodkinson, said: “Phasing out the sale of gas powered patio heaters is not just the right thing to do, it also demonstrates our determination to establish and adhere to a meaningful green agenda in every area of Wyevale’s business.”

Patio heaters have long been a controversial addition to the nation’s deckings, balconies and beer gardens, with Liberal Democrat MP and former environment spokesman, Norman Baker, calling the devices an “absurd invention”.

The Energy Savings Trust estimates that a gas heater with a 12.5 kW output would produce 34.9kg of CO2 per tank, the equivalent of the energy needed to produce 5,200 cups of tea, while the Market Transformation Programme has estimated that the UK’s combined patio heaters produce 22,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.

Friends of the Earth climate campaigner, Craig Bennett, welcomed Wyevale’s decision, saying “We’re delighted that Wyevale has decided to stop selling patio heaters, and urge other retailers to follow suit. Using a patio heater for just one hour can waste enough energy to make 400 cups of tea. Climate change is the biggest threat the planet faces and the responsible thing for companies to do is to stop selling the most polluting products.”

Click here for Wyevale website

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