This Earth Day, Pick A Soil That Is Great For The Environment And Ranked The 'Best Overall Potting Soil' By Better Homes And Garden

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As Earth Day approaches, many of us are looking for ways to connect with the environment and reduce our carbon footprint. Gardening is a great way to achieve both goals, as it allows us to offset carbon emissions while potentially growing produce for ourselves. However, it's important to note that not all gardening soils are created equal, and sometimes the very soils we use to grow our plants can be a contributor to climate change. 

Currently, most soil mixes on the market include peat moss. Using and harvesting peat moss for gardening soils is destructive in three major ways. First, there is a massive carbon dioxide release when harvested. Second, the carbon emissions from trucking and transportation costs are high, and third, peatlands are being severely degraded through peat moss extraction. Peatlands, where the peat moss is harvested, are important and fragile ecosystems that are necessary for bio-diversity and freshwater supplies globally. Peat bogs take up less than 3% of Earth’s total land mass but contain more carbon storage than all of our terrestrial forests worldwide. Simply put, peatlands are incredibly beneficial to the environment, which makes alternatives to peat moss that much more important.  

PittMoss is showing the world of gardening a better and different alternative by giving consumers the option of environmentally friendly soil. PittMoss is the only upcycled alternative to peat moss. The company uses recycled paper and cardboard waste and turns the fiber particles into sustainable products that create super-clean soil. Since 2015, PittMoss products have kept 1,050 tons of paper and 1,642 tons of cardboard out of landfills. Their sustainable model has also prevented emissions of 210.04 kg of nitrous oxide and 15,571 metric tons of carbon dioxide since the company launched.

The company’s product is one of the best-performing and most sustainable products on the market. In fact, Better Homes and Gardens called PittMoss’s soil the “Best Overall Potting Soil”. The cellulose fibers from the recycled paper help save water, have been shown to help grow bigger and stronger plants and also reduce runoff. 

In addition to their accolade from Better Homes and Garden, one of the greenest aspects of PittMoss’s products is their water efficiency. With PittMoss’s soil, gardeners use ⅔ less water than peat moss alternatives. To date, the company’s product has saved more than 31 million gallons of water. This is because of a few key factors. PittMoss absorbs water more readily than peat moss because the engineered fibers of PittMoss are hydrophilic and saturate with far more ease. PittMoss also absorbs water quicker; a study showed that PittMoss products absorbed water 5x faster when compared to sphagnum peat. Beyond that, PittMoss also retains water for longer which reduces the need to water plants as frequently as when using other soils. 

Whether PittMoss is being used as a solo soil or being used to mix into other soils, its benefits for the environment are undeniable. With the EPA predicting that 40 out of 50 states can expect water shortages in the next 10 years, having products that are adaptive to environmental needs is beneficial and necessary.

PittMoss is currently hosting a raise on Start Engine to help the company capitalize on the industry’s emerging market trends and standards — notably, that peat moss is not sustainable and consumers are interested in high-yield soil that is also good for the environment. The company says that demand is more than what their current manufacturing facility can supply, and they’re raising capital to scale up manufacturing. PittMoss predicts that in the coming years, gross margins will approach 50%. Currently, over 300 businesses worldwide have PittMoss on their shelves. 

With the growing concern for environmental sustainability, it's great to see companies like PittMoss leading the way in helping ensure gardening is good for the environment. 

Click here to read more about PittMoss’s raise and how to invest. And purchase PittMoss's environmentally friendly products at PittMoss.com!

About PitMoss
PittMoss is an environmentally friendly, sustainability-focused technology company that makes peat-replacing feedstocks, soils, and soil amendments out of recycled materials like paper and cardboard. PittMoss products provide improved water-holding capacity, aeration, biological activity, and nutrient retention when compared to other soil feedstocks. PittMoss also makes animal bedding products that absorb ammonia and animal waste better than other animal bedding materials.

Featured photo by Tony Pham on Unsplash

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