Aquamation Offers Green Cremation Alternative

Scientists in Australia have developed an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional cremation techniques.

Aquamation is based on the alkaline hydrolysis process: the way in which a human body naturally breaks down in an organic or watery environment. Using a blend of potassium, water flow and heat, the reaction is catalysed and the end result is effectively just a skeleton.

Given the limited availability of burial ground and the environmental impact of straightforward cremation - one body can be expected to produce approximately 150kg of CO2 emissions - aquamation represents the “greenest” burial choice at the present moment, its developers say.

Green Cremation Benefits

Aquamation offers further green cremation benefits, too – it’s highly energy-efficient and reduces the energy consumption level of cremations by 90 per cent. And while much of the body is destroyed, artificial components like replacement hips are not affected. On this basis, they can be recycled in future patients. Finally, the water that remains post-aquamation benefits the surrounding soil.

According to the figure responsible for developing the process – Aquamation Industries’ CEO John Humphries, the technique “simply speeds up the natural way that flesh decomposes in soil and water.”

Comparable burial services are already up and running in other parts of the world, but many don’t run on as low a temperature as Aquamation’s. For example, one UK-based firm uses sodium hydroxide to dissolve bodies at a temperature of 180 degrees Centigrade: almost twice as high as Aquamation’s technique. Elsewhere, a US firm - CycledLife - demonstrated its own innovative alkaline hydrolysis-based system to funeral directors earlier this year.

Aquamation

Aquamation Industries launched aquamation as an available service in July 2010. Since that time, 60 people have selected it as the way they want to be buried.

Speaking to the New Scientist, Australian climate scientist Barry Brook referred to aquamation as a “great initiative.”

“It's easy to dismiss these small-scale technologies as trivial, but if you add enough small-scale solutions together they can add up to something meaningful”, he added.

In September 2009, Enviro News covered another type of environmentally friendly cremation, this time in India.