From dust to dustbin ... Urn containing human ashes found at Navan recycling centre

Thu, 19 Sep, 2019 - 21:55

Sally Harding

Shocked workers at a Navan recycling centre were left stunned when they discovered an urn containing human ashes among a delivery of rubbish on August 10th. The simple brown plastic container even had a sticker displaying the name of the deceased.

The vessel was just seconds from a send-off to a landfill site when the pot was retrieved by a recycling plant worker who spotted the urn and saved it from being emptied and crushed in the waste process.

It is understood the urn was in a container delivered to the depot by a company involved in a house clearing but it is not known where the house was or who the occupant was.

Manager of Meath Recycling Christine Reynolds says she has never seen anything like it in all her years working in recycling,

"It was a surprise, we couldn't believe it. We get some strange things in skips, but this is the strangest yet."

"A man was clearing out a rented house and found the urn and didn't know what else to do with it.

The employee who found it was very shocked. It's not something you expect to find. We are relieved that we caught it when we did because if we hadn't the there's every chance the urn would be in a landfill somewhere. It's not a nice way to end up - in a recycling yard.

"We called the Garda station in Navan and they took it very seriously and they took the urn and the CCTV footage of the man that dropped it to trace him. We don't know what happened after that.

"We weren't happy to just throw it in the skip. We offered to give them a dignified send-off with a proper burial if no one came forward for the ashes but the Gardai haven't come back to us about it yet. Apparently they treat it like finding a body."

"We are very curious to find out more about the deceased, it has caught everyone's interest here."

"We are just glad we spotted it in time."

A spokesperson at Navan Gardai station commented: