In recent years we have been talking more and more often about possible environmental impact linked to crematoria: although cremation is considered a practice increasingly widespread And culturally accepted, especially due to the reduction of cemetery spaces, its ecological implications deserve attentionmore in-depth analysis. In fact, to date in Italy there is no single law at a national level that regulates them emissions and for this reason the choice of limits is entrusted to the individual regions and/or provinces.
The environmental impact of crematoria: pollution
First you need to understand what pollutants are produced during the process of cremating a body. Let’s talk for example about dust, carbon monoxide, sulfur, volatile organic compounds, NOx And heavy metals. To prevent all this from being dispersed into the atmosphere, sensors are installed smoke abatement systems: by doing so each plant can fall within the limits set by the Single Environmental Authorisation.
How the environmental impact of crematoria is reduced
To this a further detail must be added, namely that these systems work optimally if the temperature of an oven is almost constant: to satisfy this condition it is often preferable to work in series, for example while the body is cremated in one chamber, the drying process begins in another. This allows each to maintain an almost constant temperature, improving efficiency of the ovens themselves.
At the same time, as anticipated, it is good to point out how There is no single standard at national level for monitoring emissions and managing plants: precisely for this reason the ISDE (Italian Association of Doctors for the Environment) recently released a position paper in which doubts and suggestions for improvement in this sector are exposed.
Where crematoria are built
After seeing what the emissions of these plants are, it is worth spending a few words to understand where they can be made.
According to thearticle 78 of Presidential Decree 285/1990 the ovens crematoria must be realized within the cemetery enclosures and each project accompanied by a relation of type environmental And technical-healthcare. At the same time the cemeteries based on theart. 338 of Royal Decree 1265/1934 they must be distant at least 200 meters from inhabited centers – excluding urn cemeteries.
All this to say that crematorium ovens, therefore, they cannot be built close to homes but there must be at least 200 meters distance.
As the National System for Environmental Protection also reminds us, the management of ovens is the responsibility of Municipalities – whose job is to approve the construction project and check that they are managed regularly. The Regions, on the other hand, have the task of developing the so-called “regional coordination plans” to manage the construction of ovens, correctly calibrating their number based on the population, mortality rate and other demographic parameters.