Bereaved advised to remove jewellery from beloved before cremation

A specialist company that recycles metals retrieved from cremated remains has advised the bereaved to remove jewellery from their loved ones prior to cremation.

The Republic’s four crematoria at Glasnevin, Newland’s Cross and Mount Jerome in Dublin and Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork arrange to have leftover metals recycled after cremations.

The advice from Dutch firm OrthoMetals comes after an article in The Irish Times revealed almost two tonnes of metal has been collected from the ashes of cremated bodies in Northern Ireland over the last four years.

About 73 per cent of that metal comes from nails, screws and other items from coffins; about 27 per cent of it comes from orthopaedic implants such as fake hips, while precious metals make up about 0.1 per cent of the total. About half of that 0.1 per cent is palladium, used in dental fillings.

When exposed to extreme heat during cremation, the precious metals melt, fragment and eventually mix with the deceased’s remains as dust. “Our advice is, don’t leave jewellery with the deceased,” said an OrthoMetals spokesman.

Although no one from Glasnevin was available for comment, their website advises, “the cremation process will destroy [items of jewellery] and there will be no way to recover them afterwards”.

Mount Jerome said it informs people that residual metals are recycled and monies received from the process are donated to Our Lady’s Hospice, Harold’s Cross (€3,000 in 2014).

Frank Murphy, manager of Island Crematorium in Co Cork, said it has a contract with a local firm which credits and recycles the left over metal. The crematorium makes about two deliveries to the company a year. “It’s just a small amount of metal for each coffin extracted after each cremation.”

Mr Murphy said the metal has to be recycled. It can’t be buried because “it wouldn’t break down”. He said if relatives of the deceased request pieces of metal from the cremation “there’s no reason why they can’t have them”. This has happened “once or twice” over the past 10 years, he said.

He said he has never recovered gold fillings or jewellery. “The heat is so intense [up to 1,200 degrees] that anything like that wouldn’t be possible to recover. They just break down and become dust.”