A crematorium is among the new funeral management techniques being explored by the government, Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon said today.

Speaking at the launch of a six-week public consultation period on a new policy for cemeteries, Dr Falzon said the government was not ruling out any option and was aware of the need for new funeral methods.

The policy, being drafted by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, will focus mainly on extensions to existing cemeteries and will not allow for any new sites to be developed.

The new funeral methods being explored include burial at sea, of which some five are carried out every year, promission (freeze drying of bodily remains) and resomation, the dissolving of bodily remains in a mixture of water and sodium hydroxide.

Mepa Unit Manager Raphael Axiak said the new methods could help ease the burden on local cemeteries. It was essential, however, that these were not imposed on people.

“We should encourage the introduction of new technologies but never impose them,” he said.

Mr Axiak explained that there was currently no policy governing burial sites. Instead, there were only a handful of references to cemeteries in a few of the authority’s local plans.

“This new policy will be the first for cemeteries across the whole of Malta and Gozo,” he said.

Legislation was also needed, Mr Axiak said, adding that the last legal document drafted on the issue dated back to 1869.

He said extensions to sites would only be allowed after ecological and historical impact assessments were carried out.

Extensions would only be allowed if cemeteries were a minimum distance of 183m from development zones, the same distance as fireworks factories.

As for crematoriums and other new technologies, Mr Axiak said these could be developed within industrial areas and the authority was open to the possibility of these being operated by the private sector.

There are currently some 50 operational cemeteries spread across the islands with another 12 unused sites identified by the authority. The Catholic Church operates 34 sites and there are another four non-catholic cemeteries, including Jewish and Turkish burial sites.

 

 

 

 

 

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