Audun-le-Tiche. One year after its opening, six people are buried in the cremation forest.

In Audun-le-Tiche, death is now written at the foot of the trees. For the past year, the town has been offering a cremation forest, where the cremated deceased are buried in biodegradable urns. Six families have already opted for this natural setting, which is both economical and ecological.

The first cremation forest created in France is located in Arbas (Haute-Garonne) and was created in the spring of 2019. The one in Audun arrived five years later. Photo Joan Moïse

For the past year, the town of Audun-le-Tiche has taken a unique approach to considering the future of its cemetery. How? A wooded area on the site houses a cremation forest where residents can, after cremation, be buried in a biodegradable urn placed at the foot of a tree, amidst conifers, birches, and willows.

"I was afraid that this part of the cemetery would be concreted over to accommodate new graves. We came up with another idea by keeping the trees," explains Gautier Berera, deputy for the environment . For the elected official, it was a question of preserving the natural character of the place while responding to a...

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