The council of Wirral, in northwestern England, has added a 33% surcharge on “larger” caskets — those more than 74 cm wide or 2.13 m long.
A typical cremation at Landican Crematorium, which is managed by the town, costs between $872-$987, depending on what time of day it’s done. The surcharge will raise that to between $1160-$1313.
A spokesman told the BBC the charge reflects “the additional time and energy it takes to process larger cremations.”
Larger caskets used to be sent elsewhere to be dealt with, but that’s no longer necessary after two new, bigger cremators were installed at Landican last year to accommodate bigger caskets.
