More than £120k raised for charities through crematorium recycling scheme

Stafford Borough Council has announced that a total of £120,000 has been raised for charities in the region through Stafford Crematoriums recycling initiative.

The scheme sees nails and screws from coffins and artificial body parts such as hips and knee joints passed onto a recycling company for money, which is then donated to various charities across the area.

Once consent from the families has been given, the metal is filtered out as part of the cremation process, leaving the ashes to be either collected by the deceased's loved one's, or buried.

Councillor Ian Fordham, cabinet member for environment, said: "These charities are helping people through a difficult time in their lives and the recycling scheme provides our support to them.

"It makes me very proud to see how much has been raised throughout the years and I know that the money provides funds to enable these charities to continue giving excellent support to our community.

"But I also want to recognise, and thank, the families of deceased loved ones who have allowed us to recycle metals from the cremation process at what must be a very difficult time for them."

The latest award means that local charities have received around £121,000 since the scheme began in 2013 at the award-winning Stafford Borough Council run crematorium.

The most recent donation was a £14,000 award to the Stafford and District Bereavement Loss Support Service – which provides caring and confidential bereavement support to the local community.

Chair of the trustees for the charity, Shyamali Fenton, said: "We are so grateful to be this year's recipient.

"This money will enable us to provide in house training of more bereavement support workers, specialist training for our existing volunteers and support a volunteer to become a supervisor."