Letter: Instead of building a second crematorium, Northern Ireland should consider green burials

The prospect of a second crematorium in Northern Ireland is truly alarming (NI’s second crematorium opens next week in Newtownabbey - with some claiming rise in demand linked to secularisation, June 3, see link below).

People with a stove or log burner are advised not to burn chipboard, yet that is the material of most coffins. Cremation burns fossil fuels and the process generates harmful pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and mercury from volatilisation of Hg in dental fillings which are toxic to humans. A cremation is the equivalent to the nitrogen oxide of a car travelling 2,300 miles. With cremation now 78% of funerals in the UK surely, it’s time to review this and bonfires for the same reason. Don’t make your last act on this earth one where the environment for your children and grandchildren is even more polluted.

Time to explore green burials?

Gerard O’Boyle, Devon

NI’s second crematorium opens next week in Newtownabbey