China holds ‘green’ funeral

BEIJING - In a first-of its-kind, China organised a mass environment-friendly funeral where the ashes of over 250 people were put in bio-degradable urns and buried or immersed in a pool.

The mass funeral was held in Tianjin city, where 251 urns filled with ashes were buried in special holes dug in the cemetery lawn, while another 30 urns were immersed in a pool where the urns would degrade within a month, Global Times reported.

As the urns are bio-degradable, they will not harm the environment, officials said.

The cemetery offered free urns and ritual services for this first “green” funeral.