The only solution would be to stop cremations

Residents living near Reykjavik’s Fossvogur crematorium have become exhausted by the heavy smoke that can fill their homes when the wind blows in an unfavorable direction. The facility is Iceland’s only operating crematorium, and its pollution-control equipment is nearly 80 years old.

Ingvar Stefánsson, director of Reykjavik Cemeteries, said the organization regretted the inconvenience caused to nearby residents and tried to limit the impact by conducting cremations in the evening and at night. He said the problem could still occur in some cases.

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The only solution would be simply to stop cremations until a new crematorium has been built.

A new crematorium is planned for Gufunes Cemetery and is expected to open by the end of next year, according to Stefánsson. Until then, he said, the only way to eliminate the emissions would be to stop cremations at Fossvogur altogether.

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This is important infrastructure, but it has not been within our power to renew the pollution-control equipment or build a new crematorium.

That would be difficult because about half of all bodies in Iceland are now cremated, he said, and mortuaries would soon fill up. The existing pollution-control system also cannot simply be replaced because equipment meeting modern standards would not fit inside the current building.

Stefánsson said Reykjavik Cemeteries had pointed to the need for improvements for more than 20 years. He said renewing the equipment and building a new crematorium were the state’s responsibility, even though Reykjavik Cemeteries operates the existing facility.

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We naturally do not want this at all, and we try to take as much account of residents as we can, which is why we conduct cremations in the evening and at night, but unfortunately this can happen in some cases.