British Crematoriums Install Bigger Furnaces Due to Rising Number of Obese Bodies
Crematoriums that have to cope with larger bodies in the U.K are bringing in extra-wide furnaces to accommodate the expanding waistlines of the recently deceased. The equipment upgrade is in view of increasing rates of obesity which is believed to have reached a point where it is considered a crisis.
Overweight people are now a common sight in Britain. With around 430,000 bodies being cremated a year, the problem of bodies too big to fit in standard furnaces has posed a huge strain on crematoriums as early as 2007. The establishments have addressed the concern by investing in new equipment.
Almost a third of the country's 308 crematoriums now have furnaces that can take 40-inch wide caskets costing £8,000 (around $10,400) more than the standard-sized equipment. Some installed super-size cremators that can accommodate up to caskets that are 44 inches wide. Crematoriums used to only accept 28-inch wide coffins.
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Tim Morris, chief executive of the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management, recalled the time when families had to travel long distances to find facilities for larger bodies. Otherwise, they would have faced the embarrassing moment when the wide coffin gets stuck in the small furnace.
According to the government, 26 percent of British adults are obese with 100,000 of them are considered "super obese," making U.K. the fat man of Western Europe, ahead of countries such as France, Germany, Spain and Sweden. The cause has been blamed on modern sedentary lifestyle and high-calorie food.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges released a report back in 2013 on obesity which drew a parallel with U.K.'s smoking addiction. It criticized the government for failing to curb the problem and warned that the number of overweight people will double by 2050 if the trend is unabated.
The report presented recommendations to reverse the trend, which included imposing a 20 percent tax on sugary drinks and a ban on advertising of food high in saturated fat, sugar and salt; compelling schools to serve healthy food in their kitchens; and banning junk food in vending machines in hospital premises, among others.
