Cemeteries: some municipalities have already adopted a ban on pesticides

Even before the ban on the use of pesticides within the cemetery, which will come into force during the summer of 2022, several municipalities have anticipated this change and have decided to no longer use them, despite the great weed hunt. This is particularly the case of Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) whose cemeteries cover 33 hectares. It was decided to go for zero chemicals to eliminate weeds. Since then, in the alleys, the vegetation gradually covers the gravel without disturbing the families of the missing.

With pesticides, it only took two applications to get rid of weeds, but with ecological methods, more maintenance must be carried out. “Today, we are forced to pass the mower, the brushcutters, we have returned to ancestral methods”, says Ingrid Bourgeois-Muller responsible for cemeteries. It is therefore one of the solutions for greener and less expensive cemeteries.