Medical News
Humans
5 July 2019
David Burton/Alamy Stock PhotoBy New Scientist Staff and Press Association
Bodies could start to be buried alongside main transport routes in the UK, as graveyards and cemeteries are running out of room.
The suggestions comes from former regional director of public health John Ashton, who says places to bury the dead could run out within five years.
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A more environmentally conscious population is increasingly opting to be laid to rest in biodegradable coffins with graves marked by trees. Ashton says that the lack of burial space and the environmental crisis could be tackled together, and is proposing that green burial corridors be installed alongside roads and railways.
Around 500,000 people die each year in England and Wales, with around 70 per cent of people cremated. However, people are increasingly opting for green burials, using biodegradable coffins with willow or cardboard or a shroud.
“I think there should be a buffer zone around the main roads of trees. Some of those areas, currently agricultural land being put under pressure to build houses on, could be designated as green burial sites, particularly ones that are near to towns,” says Ashton, who has published an article on the idea in thee Royal Society of Medicine.
Other options include brownfield sites in towns and cities which developers do not wish to build on, and areas around towns which are neither town nor country.
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