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Hong Kong’s COVID toll leads some to eco-friendlier coffins


Nepalnews
AP
2022 Mar 29, 10:48, Hong Kong
Wilson Tong, CEO of LifeArt Asia, left, talks to a reporter who tries out a catholic-designed paper coffin at Tong's factory in Hong Kong, Friday, March 18, 2022. Hong Kong is running short of coffins during its deadliest outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which has cost about 6,000 lives so far this year. LifeArt, a company in Hong Kong is trying to make an alternative, cardboard coffin, which it says is environmentally-friendly. (AP Photo)

Hong Kong’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak has cost about 6,000 lives this year – and the city is now running out of coffins.

Authorities have scrambled to order more, with the government saying 1,200 coffins had reached the city last week with more to come.

Space constraints make cremation a common burial practice in the densely populated island territory off the Chinese mainland, and the coffins typically are wood or wood substitutes.

To answer the shortage of them due to the COVID-19 toll, some companies are offering alternatives such as an environmentally friendly cardboard coffin.

LifeArt Asia has cardboard coffins made of recycled wood fiber that can be customized with designs on the exterior. In its factory in Aberdeen, a southern district of Hong Kong, up to 50 coffins can be produced a day.

CEO Wilson Tong said there is still some resistance to using caskets made of cardboard. “(People feel that) it’s a little bit shameful to use so-called paper caskets. They feel that this is not very respectful to their loved ones,” Tong said.


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