LESS THAN two months ago BCP Council declared a climate emergency.

Now it's emerged that the very same council's crematoriums are pumping out noxious gases each year which are the equivalent to a diesel car driving nearly eight MILLION miles.

According to a recent study published in Pharos, the cremation industry's magazine, one cremation emits approximately 500g of the same air polluting chemicals released by diesel cars. NOx, which includes nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, contributes to the formation of smog and damages human lung tissue, said Pharos.

In a report four years ago, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found that Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) causes 23,500 attributable deaths per year in the UK.

"One cremation is equivalent to a diesel car driving 2,280 miles," said Pharos. "Each month in Dorset, 275,000g of these harmful gases, equivalent to over one million miles in a car, are being released into the atmosphere."

The county has three council-run crematoria, in Poole, Bournemouth and Weymouth and according to Pharos, none have a de-NOx system .

"The European Parliament brought in legislation over 20 years ago which required crematoriums to invest in expensive mercury abatement technology," said the report. "However, there has been little action from the industry or the government to combat the emission of NOx gasses released during the process.

"The NOx produced during the cremation process comes from the cadaver and the coffin, making it near impossible to avoid releasing these gasses into the atmosphere, without the use of a de-NOx system."

The report says the systems available to lower the emissions released during the cremation process are "self-contained and are fully automatic in operation. This technology costs around £25,000 and reduces the amount of NOx released into the atmosphere by 80 per cent."

Portfolio Holder for Environment and Climate Change at BCP Council, Felicity Rice, said:

“BCP Council Bereavement Services operate two crematoriums within the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole conurbation.

"We are committed to reducing the impact on the environment and are continually looking at ways of reducing greenhouse emissions.

"In 2012, we invested in mercury abatement technology, which has been successful in reducing mercury by 100 per cent. We are pleased that this outperforms the current recommendations of 50 per cent."

She said the council was aware that there are currently a total of four crematoriums which have the new de-NOx systems installed nationwide.

"We are very interested in adopting this system ourselves, and are investigating ways in which to install this technology in our own crematoriums, especially given the importance of the climate emergency we are now experiencing," she said.