Latest news with #alkalinehydrolysis
Telegraph
a day ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Boil in the bag funerals could be given go-ahead
People could soon be able to choose to be boiled and flushed down the drain instead of cremated or buried. A consultation on funerary methods by the Law Commission is proposing legal approval of alkaline hydrolysis and human composting as new ways of disposing of people's bodies. Alkaline hydrolysis uses water, alkaline chemicals, heat and pressure to break down a body into liquid and pieces of bone, which can take between two and 18 hours. Bones and teeth survive the process and are ground into a powder to be returned to the family, while the rest of the body is broken down into liquid, which can be sent to the sewers. These funerals have been known as a water burial or resomation, but have colloquially been dubbed 'flushed away' and 'flush and bone' rituals. The Law Commission states the process is fundamentally different from burial and cremation and yet there is no clear regulatory approval of the process, effectively barring it from being used in Britain. People can choose a water burial in parts of Australia and Canada. A site in Navan, Ireland, is the first of its kind in Europe, which costs around €1,500 (£1,260). The Co-operative announced in 2023 it was hoping to bring water burials to British customers in what it called the 'biggest change to funerals in over 120 years'. But this endeavour failed as a result of regulatory hurdles that made it impossible under current laws. A spokesman from Co-op Funeralcare said: 'At Co-op Funeralcare, we are committed to serving the needs of our member-owners and clients and offering the most sustainable and affordable services. 'In 2023, we announced our ambition to pilot Resomation in the UK, and we subsequently worked closely with the Government to explore the regulatory requirements to introduce this service across the nation. However, we did not proceed with this as, at the time, we were unable to find a path through the current regulatory framework. 'We welcome The Law Commission's review and encourage exploration into alternative methods that provide consumers with greater choice and deliver environmental benefits.' 'Have a cup of granddad' There is currently 'no specific regulation of new funerary methods' in England and Wales. The consultation proposes that the law is changed to allow for new funeral methods to be approved and to define regulations. Criminal offences for improper use are also proposed. Alkaline hydrolysis was used as a funerary method for the bodies of five deceased people in 2019 as part of a specially authorised study into the process. Dr Lian Lundy, of Middlesex University, a wastewater specialist, conducted the analysis and says that it can take between four and 18 hours to complete, depending on various factors such as the concentration of chemicals and water temperature. Her analysis found that the water a body boils in is full of compounds that are safe to be put back into the wastewater supply. She said: 'We collected the wastewater and analysed it for the sort of parameters used for trade effluent and all the pollutants that we looked at fell well within the range of values they would accept. 'From a technical perspective, for the parameters we looked at, it wasn't an issue. 'It's a system that could be added to a church or added to any location. So it would potentially be a completely different model for disposing of the dead. She added: 'Yorkshire Water collected the samples using their methods and then they analysed them in their labs. I just got an Excel spreadsheet and analysed the data. 'From a water quality perspective, our study didn't indicate there were any issues with discharging to sewer. The biggest hurdle, Dr Lundy said, was social acceptability and not chemical or water safety. 'I think it's because it's a new process and people don't really understand it,' she said. 'And when it does get into the newspapers, it tends to be quite sensationalised, as in, 'flushing grandma down the toilet' and 'have a cup of granddad'. '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. 'Some people view it as basically mixing up my loved one with poo in the sewer and they don't like that. However, some people see returning to the water environment as being a gentler approach.'
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Environmentally friendly water cremation service to open in Christchurch
Resomation founder Sandy Sullivan and Water Cremation Aotearoa founder Deborah Richards, at the Kindly Earth facility near Durham in England. This facility is due to open at the end of 2023. Photo: Supplied/Deborah Richards New Zealand's first water crematorium is opening in Christchurch on Friday, giving people a new option for what happens to their body after they die. Water cremation, also called alkaline hydrolysis or resomation, was used in several countries as an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional cremation . It involves a body being put into a tube containing 95 percent water and five percent alkaline, and heated up and pressurised for about four hours. The remains are then given back to the relatives, while the water is treated and put back into the water cycle. Christchurch Water Crematorium director Debbie Richards said it had been a long battle to get the process approved in New Zealand. "After working on this for more than seven years, we are thrilled to be able to offer water cremation as a far more environmentally sustainable end-of-life choice," she said. The project is a partnership between Water Cremation Aotearoa and funeral service provider Bell, Lamb and Trotter. Richards said the water cremation process produced no carbon emissions. "Anything not of the body - such as pacemakers and implants remain behind, clean and intact, and can be recycled. The bones that remain after the process is complete can be returned to the family as bones or white ash, it is their choice," she said. A single traditional flame cremation produced about 180 to 240kg of carbon emissions, Richards said. "I think that those people that want to tread more lightly and leave less of a footprint environmentally, and are concerned about carbon emission and want to do something about climate change, they will find this appealing," she said. "A lot of people perceive it as gentler than flame cremation as well so for those reasons I think people will definitely choose it." Richards said the water cremation service was being offered for $1350. "We're offering it just through Bell, Lamb and Trotter at the moment. It works out as a little bit cheaper than a flame cremation and one of the reasons for that is that there's no casket required. We can't put a casket inside a resomater, we can only put things that are protein based," she said. "We wrap a body in some beautiful New Zealand wool, we've got that from Wisewool up in Gisborne where they have the sheep and they make the beautiful blanketing that we wrap people in as a shroud." Bell, Lamb and Trotter managing director Andrew Bell said this new technology was a significant development for the funeral industry. "Bell, Lamb and Trotter was the first company in the country to introduce embalming in 1896 and then flame cremation became available in 1909 which is probably the last time something so noteworthy has happened in the funeral services sector," he said. Bell said with about 80 percent of the company's clients choosing cremation over burial, he believed water cremation would have wide appeal. Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger will formally open the water crematorium at Bell, Lamb and Trotter's St Asaph Street site on Friday. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
