Eco-coffins

[Guest guest]

Burying is more ecofriendly - if anyone is interested my daughter

works at The Natural Death Centre and gives advice on woodland

burials, eco-coffins and even being freeze-dried and vibrated into

dust.

 

Jo

 

HONG KONG - They're presentable, environmentally friendly and burn

faster: cardboard " eco-coffins " may just be the solution to long

queues at Hong Kong's busy crematoriums, officials say.

 

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Health officials want to introduce the green coffins — made of

corrugated cardboard and said to speed up the cremation process from

two and a half hours to an hour — to alleviate traffic at

crematoriums, the government said Tuesday.

 

" With less time required for each session, we can arrange more

sessions per day to cut queuing time for cremation, " said permanent

secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Carrie Yau in a

statement. " That in turn will help ease the demand on our public

mortuary. "

 

Cremating the dead is more common and affordable than burials in land-

scarce Hong Kong. The government said it has six crematoria which

provides 34,400 cremation sessions a year — about 94 sessions every

day — but families of the dead often have to wait more than 10 days

until they are assigned a slot.

 

Although the cardboard coffins are more efficient and are said to

produce less toxic gas during combustion, they aren't likely to be

popular in Hong Kong, where skimping on the traditional Chinese

rituals of sending the dead away is seen as a sign of disrespect.

 

But Hong Kongers should try to accept the advantages of the coffins,

said to be gaining popularity in Japan and Europe, Yau said.

 

" The eco-coffin coincides with the Asian philosophy of integration

between man and nature, " Yau said. " Due respect is given to the

deceased, regardless of a simple or magnificent coffin. "