B&Q is to no longer stock gas patio heaters, following claims that they are harmful to the environment.
The DIY retailer will stop selling the gas-powered outdoor heaters from autumn, despite generating£8 million from the sale of 50,000 of them last year.
Customers are being encouraged to buy wood-burning stoves and chimeneas instead.
Environmentalists claim that patio heaters are 10 times less efficient than an indoor heater and that one patio heater used for two hours produces the same amount of carbon dioxide as a car would in an average day.
According to the Daily Telegraph, B&Q chief executive Ian Cheshire said: “Patio heaters have become the 4x4s of the gardening world. If you want to keep warm outside, it is better to be environmentally friendly.”
He added that sales of wind turbines, solar-powered products and insulation are increasing at the retailer.
Last spring, garden centre group Wyevale announced it would stop selling gas-powered patio heaters as part of its plans to become carbon neutral by 2010.
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