Editorial | Raise awareness to foster green Hong Kong burials
- Given city’s ageing population, the government should conduct more promotional activities on end-of-life planning, such as talks and tours of memorial gardens, so that more people may opt for sustainable alternatives and ease demands on burial facilities
Customs and traditions do not necessarily move with the times. But when it comes to burials and tomb sweeping in Hong Kong, there is good cause for a rethink.
The growing demand for columbariums and cemeteries in our land-strapped city simply makes the conventional approach unsustainable in the long run.
It is a relief to learn that the number of green burials has quadrupled over the past decade. Last year, 8,237 chose to have their ashes scattered in memorial gardens, while 1,144 opted for burial at sea.
They accounted for 16.5 per cent of the annual death toll, up from 5.5 per cent in 2011 when the green option was first introduced, according to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. There also is an online memorial platform for friends and relatives to pay tribute anytime, anywhere.
While it is good that the promotional efforts have paid off, those who opted for green alternatives remain in the minority. Overall, the proportion of residents buried by scattering ashes in designated sites and the sea had only increased by 10 per cent over the course of the decade.
