As we run out of space for burials and as people become more concerned with environmentally-friendly funerals, new alternatives to traditional burial and cremation are being developed. Let’s take a look at some of these alternatives.
NB before you read any further: as with many of my funeral posts, this one includes frank and open discussion of how we deal with dead bodies. If that’s not for you, please stop reading now. If you need help with your grief, please click here to visit my page of grief organisations and resources.
Water cremation (aka alkaline hydrolysis, resomation, aquamation)
Water cremation is pretty new in Australia, although the technology has been around since the late 1800s (originally developed to process dead farm animals).
Fire cremation requires very high temperatures and generates about 400kg of carbon emissions per body. That’s about the same as driving a car from Melbourne to Perth. Plus there’s all sorts of other things that go into the air through cremation. This can include mercury from tooth fillings and other toxic emissions from burnt prosthetics and melted surgical bone cement.
Water cremation produces less than 10% of the carbon emissions of fire cremation.
How does it work?
The scientific process is called alkaline hydrolysis. The Scottish water cremation unit company, Resomation, uses high temperature and high pressure in its equipment. The body is placed in a stainless steel pressurised water cremation unit, which is filled with water and potassium hydroxide and heated to 160 degrees Celsius. The pressurisation prevents the liquid from boiling. The flesh, tissue, and fat in the body essentially dissolves over four to six hours, leaving behind a green-brown tinted liquid and soft, porous bones. The bones are then dried and crushed and form a white-coloured dust, which can be returned to the family. The liquid either goes into the sewerage system or can be used on gardens.
Aquamation, an Australian invention, uses a combination of flowing water, high temperature, and alkilinity to accelerate the tissue breakdown process. They have two different machines available for sale to funeral directors worldwide, one for humans and one for animals. As it uses lower temperatures than the Resomation machines, Aquamation’s process takes eight hours.
Water cremation in Australia
Environmentally Friendly Cremations, based in New South Wales, is the only company providing water cremation in Australia. It uses the Aquamation water cremation unit. The remaining liquid is used as fertiliser on plantation forests. They can provide water cremation services for families from Victoria, New South Wales, the ACT, Queensland, and South Australia.
Mushroom burial suit
A mushroom burial suit is a shroud made out of organic material seeded with mushroom spores. The body is buried in the shroud (not in a coffin or casket) in a natural burial ground. The spores in the suit, as they grow into mushrooms, help to decompose the body while neutralising any toxins within your body. Mushrooms apparently can clean up toxic contaminants in the environment – yay for mushrooms!
However. Luke Perry was buried in one of these suits in 2019. His burial, along with other studies, showed that the suit just doesn’t work. Mushrooms just didn’t grow. That’s probably why the only company that makes them has since closed down. Maybe in the future someone will figure out a way to make this idea work.
Promession – freeze-drying
Promession is the process of freeze-drying the body. First the process cryogenically freezes the body using liquid nitrogen. The machine then vibrates, disintegrating the body into particles within minutes. The particles are freeze dried in a chamber, and any metals are removed. The remains are then buried.
Like mushroom burial suits, this is another seemingly great idea that no one has been able to make work on human bodies as yet. Maybe one day…
Human composting
While not yet legal in Australia, human composting, or recomposition, is gaining traction overseas.
Recompose, a US company, claims that their process requires 1/8 the energy of traditional burial or cremation. The body is laid in a vessel surrounded by carbon-rich materials such as wood chips, alfalfa, and straw. Over a period of 8-12 weeks the body turns into compost, which can be used on conversation land, forests, or gardens.
Tree burial pod
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/
You may have seen pictures of these tree burial pods. They are environmentally friendly urns into which the cremated ashes are placed. They are then buried beneath a new tree sapling. The idea is that the ashes fuel the tree’s growth.
The ashes do need to be treated to ensure they don’t contain any toxins that could actually be had for the tree’s growth.
There are only some places in Australia where tree burial pods are legal, so you’ll need to do your research and there might be hurdles to jump.
Donating your body to science
Now while this one isn’t new nor is it necessarily more environmentally friendly, given your body will still need to be disposed of after it’s been used, some people find comfort in knowing their body has been of some use, whether to assist in research or to teach the next generation of medical specialists.
This is an option that may cut down on costs for your family, as the institution that receives the donated body will usually pay for cremation (or sometimes burial( costs once they have finished with it. However it’s worth being aware that your body may not be accepted for donation. Your family will also need to understand that they may not receive your remains for a number of years after the donation. They should prepare to hold a memorial service rather than a funeral.
Body donation does need to be arranged before your death, and you have to make the application youself. You can’t leave instructions about this in your will and have your family organise it. In Victoria, The University of Melbourne School of Biomedical Sciences runs the only active body donation program.
Do you think you want your body to be disposed through one of these more modern alternatives to traditional burial and cremation?
