20 - Friday, July 24, 1992 - North Shore News

ENVIRONMENT

Measuring the environmental impact of death

YOQU CAN’T escape from
environmental concerns,
even in death.

The way we treat our loved
ones after they die was the subject
of an article in this month’s ‘issue
of Garbage, an interesting and
wide-ranging environmental mag-
azine published in the States.

Discussed, of course, was the
vast use of money and materials
many people spend on caskets —
some of which are made of trop-
ical hardwoods, satin-lined, and
complete with an inner-spring
mattress and orthopedic bed —
below-ground vaults, professional
services such as embalming, and
masses of flowers.

It’s a difficult subject, because
many people feel guilty not send-
ing their loved one out in the
finest material style available, an
emotion that has been played
upon to a great extent by some
funeral homes.

But along with these considera-
tions are other factors such as
land use, ground water pollution
and air emissions.

Can we afford the space to bury
our dead in a traditional grave-
‘yard setting? What about the
leakage of embalming chemicals,
such as formaldehyde, into the

ground water? Are the emissions
from incinerators posing a threat?

In 1975, a U.S. insurance com-
pany executive claimed that if
burial procedures weren’t chang-
ed, every acre in the United States
would be taken up by cemeteries
in 500 years.

While this would never happen,
of course, it illustrates the con-
cerns some people have with our
cemeteries,

Especially frustrating, some say,
is when people buy a 400-
square-foot family plut meant for
12 people, but only three or four
use it before the rest of the family
moves away.

Rick Collins, manager of the
Lower Mainland First Memorial
funeral home, says that space is
not a problem. He points to his
company’s Forest Lawn cemetery
in Burnaby, which is already
home to 80,000 bodies and not
nearly full.

According to Garbage maga-
zine, some places in Canada have
already started measuring ground
water contamination in areas
surrounding cemeteries, but have
not found anv evidence of a prob-
lem.

There are many of us who
would be sorry to see the complete
demise of the cemetery, which, if

Our Green Planet

Recipes for a cleaner, healthier environment

Plastic Bottles

Let your imagination wander and you will come up with a dozen ways to reuse
plastic bottles. By cutting off the tops you have a contamer in which you can Soak old
paintbrushes, transplant a tree, or stcre your child's crayons. The
top section can then be used a5 a funnel, or leave the cap on to make
a sand scocp that you can take tc the beach, A smaller bottle can
be cut down and used Lo stooge laundry soap. Aramy day project
could turn an old bieach bottle mto a garden bird feeder that
you can hang from a tree. Clear, untinted, 2 litre plastic pop
bottles make ideal plant starters. Simply cut the bottle n
half and place the new dome upside down over seedlings. Use
Scissors or a sharp knife to cut the plastic, and fre sand

“paper to smooth the edges.

CLIP & SAVE Sag

Peggy
Trendell-Whittaker

ECOINFO

correctly planned, can provide a
beautiful and contemplative set-
ting for the living.

However, aiternatives — such
as donating your body for medical
research — do seem much less
wasteful of resources.

Many people choose to avoid
the use of embalming chemicals,
expensive caskets, and graveyard
plots by choosing incineration —
especially in B.C.

While approximately 17% of
Americans choose incineration
over burial, as do 35% of Cana-
dians, the B.C. average is a much
greater 60 to 65%, and First Me-
morial’s average is even higher at
90%.

Collins believes the practice is
more accepted here because it is
seen as being more ‘‘in tune with
nature.”

And as many people move to
B.C. from the rest of the country,
some people have no family ties in
the province that would perhaps
make a grave site desirable.

First Memorial operates the
North Shore crematorium at the
top of Lillooet Road, a 25-year-
old structure that has incinerated
60,000 bodies in its lifespan and is
currently handling 4,000 bodies
each year.

While mercury from _ silver-
amalgam dental fillings and heavy
metal residue from cancer
chemotherapy can be_ emitted
from crematoriums, Collins says
that the Greater Vancouver
Regional District, which monitors
the facility, is mainly concerned
with visible smoke, or, more cor-
rectly, visible steam.

While the North Shore facility
is currently the most-used
crematorium in North America,
its life is coming to an end.

First Memorial is building a
“‘state-of-the-art’’ replacement in
Burnaby that will result in the
shut-down of the North Shore
crematorium some time this fall.

First Memorial was founded to
work with the Memorial Society
of B.C., a non-profit organization
that facilitates families’ wishes for
a fuss-free, waste-free funeral
that isn’t lavish or expensive.

While all funeral homes now
offer the Memorial Society ser-
vice, First Memorial is the only
company that has a contract with
the Memorial Society and is
therefore able to offer the service
at a lower cost.

“‘One way or another, we're in-
volved in 25% of the deaths in
B.C.,’’ said Collins, whose com-
pany has eight funeral homes
throughout the province.

For more information on the
Memorial Society of B.C., call
688-6256.

North Shore residents now have
a third Mohawk gas station where
they can fill up with the only gas-
oline to get the Canadian gov-
ernment’s ‘‘Environmental
Choice’’ designation.

Mohawk recently celebrated the
official opening of its Parkgate
Centre outlet, on Mount Seymour
Parkway near the golf course.

Mohawk Oil Co. uses low-
grade grains and other agricultural
products to produce ethanol,
which is blended with gasoline to
create a fuel that results in fewer

carbon monoxide and hydrocar-
bon tailpipe emissions than stand-
ard gasoline.

The use of ethanol also
decreases the company’s reliance
on non-renewable petroleum pro-
ducts, and provides a 3.5-
million-bushel-a-year market for
Prairie farmers.

Monawk is also known for col-
lecting and recycling used motor
oil brought in by do-it-
yourselfers, whose Saturday
afternoon automotive efforts have
been a significant contributor to
water poilution problems.

Mohawk is now re-refining the
used oil collected by other com-
panies, such as Canadian Tire, as
a new provincial regulation com-
ing into effect stipulates that all
oil retail outlets must accept used
oil from their customers.

The latest environmental! service
being provided by local Mohawk
stations are recycling ‘“‘igloos,”
into which customers can deposit
their clear and colored plastic bot-
tles, such as containers for oil,
anti-freeze and windshield washer
fluid.

The company also recycles cor-
rugated cardboard.

Mohawk president Bill Duncan
says his company’s recycling ef-
forts will reduce their solid waste
output by 30 to 40% and reduce
garbage disposal costs by 11.5%.

Visit a unique shop where
everything’s recycled!
ce canes cinta nics came aoe men ee
OFF
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