‘Boil in the bag’ environmentally friendly funerals arrive in the UK
Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent
Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent
THE GUARDIAN
Sun, 2 July 2023
Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images
For anyone uneasy at the thought of their body being consumed by flames or interred in an insect-teeming grave, a new funeral choice is about to become available: water cremation.
The process of dissolving a body in a bag in 160C water treated with an alkali will become available in the UK later this year and is the first new legal method of disposing of cadavers since the Cremation Act of 1902. It has been described as a “boil in the bag” funeral.
The practice is legal in the majority of US states, Canada and South Africa, where it was chosen for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died last year. It is also legal in the UK, but has only been used only in limited trials aimed at testing if the resulting solution was safe to release into the drainage system.
With a carbon footprint that is claimed to be about half of that of gas-fired cremation, the process leaves only bones, which are then powdered and returned to the family in the same way as cremated ash.
Advocates describe it as “gentler on the body and kinder on the environment” and Co-op Funeralcare, the UK’s largest undertaker, is likely to start offering it in the north-east of England, where a former coffin maker, Julian Atkinson, has set up the required equipment.
Northumbrian Water has granted approval for the resulting water to be sent back into the drainage network as “trade effluent”, the same permit used by launderettes.
Polling found 29% of Britons said they would choose the practice – known as resomation – for their own funeral if it was available.
Sun, 2 July 2023
Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images
For anyone uneasy at the thought of their body being consumed by flames or interred in an insect-teeming grave, a new funeral choice is about to become available: water cremation.
The process of dissolving a body in a bag in 160C water treated with an alkali will become available in the UK later this year and is the first new legal method of disposing of cadavers since the Cremation Act of 1902. It has been described as a “boil in the bag” funeral.
The practice is legal in the majority of US states, Canada and South Africa, where it was chosen for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died last year. It is also legal in the UK, but has only been used only in limited trials aimed at testing if the resulting solution was safe to release into the drainage system.
With a carbon footprint that is claimed to be about half of that of gas-fired cremation, the process leaves only bones, which are then powdered and returned to the family in the same way as cremated ash.
Advocates describe it as “gentler on the body and kinder on the environment” and Co-op Funeralcare, the UK’s largest undertaker, is likely to start offering it in the north-east of England, where a former coffin maker, Julian Atkinson, has set up the required equipment.
Northumbrian Water has granted approval for the resulting water to be sent back into the drainage network as “trade effluent”, the same permit used by launderettes.
Polling found 29% of Britons said they would choose the practice – known as resomation – for their own funeral if it was available.
Photograph: RobertHoetink/Getty Images
“We are satisfied the disposal will have no impact on our wastewater treatment processes,” the water company said.
Polling has found that almost no one among the British public has heard of the practice, but once explained to them, just under a third (29%) said they would choose the method – also known as resomation, aquamation, or alkaline hydrolysis – for their own funeral if it was available.
“By starting to make resomation available in the UK, Co-op will be providing people with another option for how they leave this world because this natural process uses water, not fire, making it gentler on the body and kinder on the environment,” said Atkinson. “We are encouraged to see that many members of the public are conscious of reducing the carbon footprint, even after death.”
A typical cremation releases 245kg of carbon, creating a UK annual impact of 115,150 tonnes, according to the CDS group, a crematorium consultancy. That is equivalent to electricity to power 65,000 households.
Funerals would take place as normal with the body in a coffin but for the water cremation it would be wrapped in a woollen shroud and placed in a “bio pouch” made from cornstarch. This would then be placed in a sealed chamber with 95% water and the remainder potassium hydroxide and heated to about 160C. After four hours everything but the skeleton would be dissolved.
After testing in 2020, Yorkshire Water granted consent for the solution to be discharged into the usual drainage system after analysis found there was no risk and no DNA was found in samples. The solution is modified to balance its PH before it is discharged “in time returning to the natural water cycle”, the Co-op said.
“The UK has a history of innovation when it comes to compassionately, practically and hygienically managing the disposal of bodies after death,” said Prof Douglas Davies at the department of theology and religion at Durham University. “Cremation grew in popularity throughout the 20th century and overtook burial in the 1960s as the preferred method of disposal for people.”
The new practice cropped up in the 2019 Russell T Davies BBC TV miniseries Years and Years, which featured a scene in an ”aquatorium”.
“Boil in the bag. Like sous-vide,” explains one mourner to another. “You get flushed. Down the drain. Out to sea. The end.”
“We are satisfied the disposal will have no impact on our wastewater treatment processes,” the water company said.
Polling has found that almost no one among the British public has heard of the practice, but once explained to them, just under a third (29%) said they would choose the method – also known as resomation, aquamation, or alkaline hydrolysis – for their own funeral if it was available.
“By starting to make resomation available in the UK, Co-op will be providing people with another option for how they leave this world because this natural process uses water, not fire, making it gentler on the body and kinder on the environment,” said Atkinson. “We are encouraged to see that many members of the public are conscious of reducing the carbon footprint, even after death.”
A typical cremation releases 245kg of carbon, creating a UK annual impact of 115,150 tonnes, according to the CDS group, a crematorium consultancy. That is equivalent to electricity to power 65,000 households.
Funerals would take place as normal with the body in a coffin but for the water cremation it would be wrapped in a woollen shroud and placed in a “bio pouch” made from cornstarch. This would then be placed in a sealed chamber with 95% water and the remainder potassium hydroxide and heated to about 160C. After four hours everything but the skeleton would be dissolved.
After testing in 2020, Yorkshire Water granted consent for the solution to be discharged into the usual drainage system after analysis found there was no risk and no DNA was found in samples. The solution is modified to balance its PH before it is discharged “in time returning to the natural water cycle”, the Co-op said.
“The UK has a history of innovation when it comes to compassionately, practically and hygienically managing the disposal of bodies after death,” said Prof Douglas Davies at the department of theology and religion at Durham University. “Cremation grew in popularity throughout the 20th century and overtook burial in the 1960s as the preferred method of disposal for people.”
The new practice cropped up in the 2019 Russell T Davies BBC TV miniseries Years and Years, which featured a scene in an ”aquatorium”.
“Boil in the bag. Like sous-vide,” explains one mourner to another. “You get flushed. Down the drain. Out to sea. The end.”
Sky News
Sun, 2 July 2023
Co-op Funeralcare has announced plans to offer a new form of burial as a sustainable alternative to traditional burials or cremation.
The UK's largest funeral provider has announced that it will introduce the practice, called resomation - also known as water cremation or alkaline hydrolysis - later this year.
The practice consists of the deceased being enclosed in a biodegradable pouch then placed in a container filled with pressurised water and a small amount of potassium hydroxide.
This rapidly converts tissue and cells into a watery solution, with one cycle taking approximately four hours.
Soft bones remain and these are dried then reduced to a white powder, which can be returned to relatives in an urn.
Research suggests that resomation is a more sustainable option as it does not release toxic gases, air pollutants or polluting fluids.
Cremating a body leads to the release of carbon dioxide and potentially toxic gases while burials can lead to the risk of groundwater contamination.
Read more:
What is a water cremation? And why they might not catch on
The Co-op, which arranges more than 93,000 funerals a year, said it will be working with sustainability experts and academia to further validate existing research during its initial regional pilot.
It said pilot locations to be announced later this year with the intention to expand the service to all Co-op clients.
It has also updated the government on its plans to make the process available in the UK and said that questions on new burial methods were raised at the Synod of Church of England earlier this year.
The practice is growing in popularity in the US, Canada and South Africa, but burials or gas cremations remain the two options for UK families.
Anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died in 2021, is the most high-profile figure to choose resomation for his own funeral.
Its introduction in the UK will mark the first time in more than 120 years that a new alternative to burial or cremation will be widely available for funerals since the introduction of the Cremation Act in 1902.
It is understood that resomation is not illegal but will be subject to compliance with relevant health, safety and environment regulations.
Meanwhile, the Law Commission is currently reviewing existing laws to see how they can accommodate new burial methods.
A YouGov poll commissioned by Co-op Funeralcare found that 89% of UK adults had not heard of resomation but once explained, almost a third said they would choose it for their own funeral if available.
Furthermore, nearly a fifth of adults who have arranged a funeral in the last five years said they would have considered resomation for their loved one's funeral had it been an option at the time.
Gill Stewart, managing director of Co-op Funeralcare, said introducing "innovative and sustainable options" for clients is "an absolute priority".
"Up until now choice has been limited to burial or cremation," she said.
"We've seen from the rapid uptake of newer funeral options such as direct cremation, that when choice in the funeral market is broadened, this is only a positive thing both for the bereaved and for those planning ahead for their own farewell."
No comments:
Post a Comment