Dying is part of life. Sauerlach’s Mayor Barbara Bogner from the Independent Citizens’ Association (UBV) said this in a very matter-of-fact and calm tone on Tuesday evening at the municipal council meeting. But death is on the minds of so many in the community these days. An entrepreneur from the district of Eichstätt has expressed an interest in building a crematorium at the eastern entrance to the town near the geothermal thermal power station. And now there is resistance to this plan.
Matthias Zwiener spoke up at the meeting and presented his concerns about the project. As a chemist, the man from Sauerlach explained, he had good knowledge of the subject, he said, and provocatively asked the municipal councilors whether they themselves would not like to be better informed. The municipal council had already given its basic consent to the project in September, only third mayor Wolfgang Büsch (Greens) did not want to go along at the time, but because of his concerns about the location, which is in the vicinity of the planned new high school north of Hofoldinger Straße.
The incinerator could be built near the geothermal thermal power station at the eastern entrance to the town.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
In the municipal council, Zwiener warned in particular of what he saw as “negative health consequences” for the citizens of Sauerlach. According to the chemist, the cremation process in a crematorium leads to exposure to fine dust, which can primarily affect the lungs. The pollutants would accumulate in the vicinity of the incineration plant, and incidents could also occur that would result in increased pollutant values. “A crematorium is not run by chemists or physicists. These are often employees who have no idea about the subject,” warned Sauerlacher. “The Federal Association of Crematoria Operators also criticizes this.”
Mayor Bogner replied that the entrepreneur’s request to build a crematorium was not the first, there had already been several interested parties in the past – however, these had always failed because a suitable plot of land was missing or previous municipal councils rejected an incinerator. This is now different. “This municipal council has now said that it can imagine that. Also at this point at the entrance to the town,” said the mayor. She considers it sensible to cremate the deceased from Sauerlach and the surrounding area on site. “We know how far away our corpses are driven and then sent back in the mail in dust form,” said Bogner.
Zwiener also objected that he too understood that crematoria were needed, although these should be built “further away from the people”, “without any burden on the citizens and with well-trained staff”. Götz von Borries (UBV) called this the “Saint Florian principle”. There are also crematoria in Munich, such as the incinerator at the Ostfriedhof. “Should we only cremate where fewer people are protesting?” Borries asked.
Bogner said the local council had of course given some thought to the impact of such a project. However, the mayor also promised that there would be another “information event for citizens” and invited Zwiener to exchange ideas with potential operators. He promptly agreed.