The Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is planning to introduce coffins made of recycled paper, which have multiple advantages over the traditional wooden coffins in terms of cost, time and energy consumption.

Currently, the average waiting period for cremation is 15 days. But if paper coffins are adopted, it may cut the waiting period to only one day, said the department.

Also, a paper coffin costs several hundred Hong Kong dollars, whereas a traditional wooden coffin costs several thousand dollars.

Admitting it's probably difficult to change a tradition, the department said it would start using paper coffins with unclaimed bodies.

Editor: Wing