Metal body parts from dead bodies being recycled as plane engines
A Dutch company is behind a scheme that is seeing metal body parts from dead bodies come back to life - as plane engines and road signs.
OrthoMetals came up with the idea of recycling everything from steel hips to plates and screws from legs and skulls and selling them for use in the aviation and car industries.
The company says that around half of Britain's 260 crematoriums have signed up to the scheme, which is generating 75 tonnes of metal a year.
The more valuable metals that survive the 1000-degree cremation process - like cobalt and titanium - will be used in aircraft engines.
Less valuable materials are sold for more general use, and may end up as anything from road signs to lamp posts.
According to SWNS, the post-cremation metal is put in large wheelie bins, which is then collected by contractors who take it to specialist plants for recycling.
The project began in Britain in 2004 and, according to OrthoMetals, money made from the scheme is donated to charity, with £1 million being raised since its inception.
Relatives of the deceased are asked to sign a consent form agreeing to the recycling before the cremation take place.
According to Yahoo News, many metal body parts are currently buried in the grounds of the crematoria, but new legislation means this will soon no longer be possible.
Ruud Verberne, owner of OrthoMetals, the Dutch company behind the recycling, told The Sun: "Metals reclaimed from cremations are being increasingly re-used.
"High value metals such as cobalt go into the aircraft or automotive industries.
"Others are sold to smelters and foundries and it is possible that they end up as road signs or motorway barriers - there's no way of knowing.
"What is important is that the metals are being recycled, and this is a growing business both
in Britain and elsewhere in Europe."
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