Herbicide Usage
The Parks Trust has made positive progress in its efforts to reduce glyphosate use. In recent years we have reduced our total use by over one third. Our goal is to use the substance minimally and only where no practicable alternative is available.
Since we set this goal in 2019, we have continually researched and where we can, introduced effective alternatives to herbicides such as using wood mulch, planting hemi-parasitic plants like ‘yellow rattle’ in wildflower mixes in place of some of our formal shrub beds, or weeding by hand and mechanical means.
We do not use glyphosate on most of the green space that we manage and where we do have to use it, we minimise its use. Across the whole estate, we use 250ml to 1 hectare (2.47 acres) per year which equates to half a regular can of drink over an area the size of a football pitch.
There is still more to be done, and we continue to work with suppliers and industry experts to test innovative solutions to weed control. Glyphosate is currently fully licenced for horticultural and agricultural use in both the UK and EU. The UK licence for the use of glyphosate was extended to December 2028.