IT may sound insensitive, but Worcester Crematorium officials are launching a scheme to recycle "spare" metal body parts.

Macabre? No. Realistic? Yes.

At present all these "spare" parts: plates, screws, knees, hips - the list goes on - are simply removed from the ashes after cremation and buried separately in the ground.

This brings ecological problems as the nature of the special metal used for these parts - usually titanium - means they will never degenerate.

So a Government initiative has been launched to keep these parts aside and then send them back for melting down - the resultant metal being used to manufacture more new bits.

Of course, the bereaved families will be consulted and asked to give their permission for the procedure.

If they would prefer not to support the scheme, they will be given the parts to dispose of (or keep) themselves.

The money raised from the recycling will be given to charity - shared between the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK.

Crematorium officials are hoping that there will not be a "hue and cry" about this initiative and have put themselves forward to talk the matter through with relatives.

But we suspect that when the full details are known, there will be little opposition.

After all, a replacement hip is not much use to anyone, apart from the person it was originally designed for.