'Boil in the bag' cremation coming to UK - with remains flushed down drains
Water cremations, sometimes referred to as 'boil in a bag' funerals, are already widely available across the US, and could soon be rolled out in the UK
'Boil in a bag' funerals could soon be made available across the UK, offering an environmentally friendly, yet controversial, way to say your final goodbyes to a loved one.
This unusual method, officially known as water cremation or alkaline hydrolysis, is currently effectively banned in the UK, but could well get the legal go-ahead following the independent Law Commission's new consultation into funerary methods.
Already available across 30 US states, as well as Canada and South Africa, the first European water cremation facility, or resomation, opened its doors in early 2023in Navan, Co Meath, Ireland.
Traditional burials can lead to embalming fluid seeping into the grave soil, while each gas-powered fire cremation releases around 245kg of CO2 into the atmosphere, according to UK-based cemetery and crematorium development the CDS Group.
By comparison, figures from Resomation Ltd, the founding body for alkaline hydrolysis, show just 28kg of CO2 is released into the atmosphere per water cremation. Unlike conventional cremations, these eco-friendly farewells, which take between three to four hours, also don't release harmful mercury emissions into the atmosphere.
So how does it work?
A body is loaded into the alkaline hydrolysis machine, which calculates the amount of water and potassium hydroxide required. The machine locks, and an alkaline solution then fills the pressurised tank, which is gently heated to 152°C (305°F).
The remains are broken into their chemical components — amino acids, peptides, sugars and salt — leaving behind a liquid that is then cooled in another tank until sterile and free from any remaining tissue or DNA.
Around 330 gallons of brown-coloured liquid will be washed down the drain, while the softened bones are ground to powder in a reducer, and presented in an urn to the grieving family.
Back in 2017, Wired journalist Hayley Campbell described the process in colourful detail after seeing a resomator in action at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Hayley wrote: "Over the course of up to four hours, the strong alkaline base causes everything but the skeleton to break down to the original components that built it: sugar, salt, peptides and amino acids; DNA unzips into its nucleobases, cytosine, guanine, adenine, thymine.
"The body becomes fertiliser and soap, a sterile watery liquid that looks like weak tea. The liquid shoots through a pipe into a holding tank in the opposite corner of the room, where it will cool down, be brought down to an acceptable pH for the water treatment plant, and be released down the drain."
Noting that "it's not actually that terrible", Hayley revealed: "The human body, liquefied, smells like steamed clams." Although many scientists view alkaline hydrolysis as the future of the death industry, it's something many still feel squeamish about, while others object on religious or cultural grounds.
Highlighting why this process is still a bit of a taboo in an interview with The Telegraph, Dr Lian Lundy, a wastewater specialist from Middlesex University, explained: "Some people view it as basically mixing up my loved one with poo in the sewer and they don't like that.
"But there's a lot that goes into the sewer that we don't really think about – waste from mortuaries and hospitals and all sorts of things that we don't know about – so from that perspective, it's not really any different."
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