A creative entrepreneur told how he managed to set up a profitable business by offering to 'humanely' destroy old wedding photos for divorced couples.

Because the photographs are extremely personal, many people do not want to simply throw them in the bin but also do not want to risk bad luck by burning or shredding images of themselves.

So instead, they send them to the professional service where the images are painted over, and then shredded.

The business owner, Mr Liu, said he began offering the service to residents in Langfang, in Shandong province, eastern China.

Mr Liu said he decided to start the venture as he believes many divorcees refuse to throw out wedding photos because they are items that are too personal.

He said: 'The motive is simple - to protect personal privacy.

'Most wedding photos are made of an acrylic material, which cannot be easily burnt. Many places also have customs that ban people from burning photos of living people.'

Mr Liu's fee for wedding photo destruction is charged by weight, ranging from CNY 10 (GBP 1.1) to over CNY 100 (GBP 11).

Customers send their wedding photos by mail, and the destruction personnel open the box to verify the quantity with the customer.

Then, they spray paint on the photos, send the spray-painting video to the customer, and then proceed to shred them using a shredder.

The shredded pieces are sent to a power plant for dissolution. Despite there only being just one service centre, Mr Liu said they get customers from all over China.