How to achieve an Eco-Friendly Funeral, cremation via water offers alternative to eternal rest
Have you decided what you want to be done with your body after you die? Do you want to be buried (mostly) intact in a cemetery? Or do you want to be burned to ashes in a cremation chamber? Burial and fire cremation seem to be the only ways to reach one's final resting place. But what if you were told that there is a more environmentally friendly way to eternal rest?
In every area of business, especially one as old as the funeral industry, there are updates to methods and technological advances that aide the process. The latest technology in body disposal offers a greener alternative that the more environmentally conscious dearly-departed could look to, called Alkaline Hydrolysis, or as it is more commonly known: Water Cremation.
Alkaline Hydrolysis works in a fashion similar to how a washing machine would work when cleaning dishes -- but with a body. It is a simple process which breaks down molecules and fluids on the body, which is something that also happens in natural decomposition but is completed in a fraction of the time. Alkaline Hydrolysis uses lye, potassium, 300-degree water. and physics to break down the body to ashes (crushed bone) that are returned to the family, and the remaining liquids are disposed of.
“This is the only Green-Funeral,” says John Humphries, the CEO of Aquamation Australia, the only manufactures and providers of Alkaline Hydrolysis services in Australia, which operates in New South Wales. Aquamation is one of the few companies in production which manufactures Alkaline Hydrolysis machines, as well as provides the service for consumers locally.
In many ways, Alkaline Hydrolysis is the opposite of traditional fire cremation, it is regarded to be the far more ‘peaceful’ option to fire cremation; especially when one thinks about comparing washing a body over with water to burning to ash by raging flames. The method of Alkaline Hydrolysis was originally patented in the late 1800s, as a means of using bones of animals to create fertilizer, however, it has become available for human use in the early 2000s.
Most people don’t know what Alkaline Hydrolysis is unless they are looking for it, this reflects how there is a lack of public knowledge in relation to death and the death industry. This is the result of accepted societal disconnection from death and means that most people still only think that burial and cremation are the only things that could be done to a body, and won’t be made aware that there are other, and greener, options available.
However, not everyone is impressed with Alkaline Hydrolysis. The method is rather radical and scientifically advanced, and like with most inventions in this category, there are community concerns and resistance to change. The most vocal concern comes from religious groups, who believe that the act of liquifying a portion of the body and disposing of it is ‘undignified’ and ‘disrespectful.’
Humphries sighs when he hears those opinions before he explains how he sees it, “If you ask a person who is about to die what they would like to do; one of the options is to have A.H, meaning it eventually goes out into the ocean (via the drains), or would you rather your body be burned in an incinerator, and have all the fumes pollute the environment?”
Humphries explains that Aquamation does not dispose of the liquid remains via the drain, because of current regulations. However, it is important to stress that liquid remains do not pose any risk to water-systems or water quality, because they are completely sterile, even if the body has been embalmed, which uses the chemical formaldehyde. Perhaps it is just the idea of a body being liquified which makes people uncomfortable.
In modern societies, death is considered as 'the end', and people often do not want to become involved with it. People are disconnected from death and view it with indifference and disdain, which results in the topic being avoided or over-simplified to avoid the gory details, especially in relation to what happens to the body. This is what is commonly described in the funeral industry as “the Ick Factor,” and it is what stops people from getting involved or prevents people from understanding how things like decomposition and funeral preparation work. This Ick Factor is what makes it easy to perpetuate the fear of death or the disgust of all things morbid, and could also be what is standing in the way of modernising the funeral industry, and this is the sort of thing that Funeral Associations can help with.
“Educating consumers who do not want to talk about death makes the work very hard,” says Marilaurice Hemlock, a Celebrant of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Minnesota, which was one of the first states to legalise the public use of Alkaline Hydrolysis for humans in 2006. “I am not surprised that Australia has only one resomator. The funeral industry needs to make money, and if more consumers start asking for Alkaline Hydrolysis, there will be more than one in Australia!”
To gather more thoughts on the American point of view on the matter, I got into contact with Deborah Meckler from the Bay Area Funeral Consumers Association, which is based in California. Interestingly enough, she also wishes to focus on educating the public on Alkaline Hydrolysis. “Few people know what it is and most that I have talked to are not quite sold on the idea of essentially flushing ones loved one down the sewer.” Deborah continues, “I have found few entities here saying they will be offering it. They will wait to see what the demand is. Hence my efforts at educating the public.”
When speaking about this, Humphries points out one of the reasons he believes that Alkaline Hydrolysis isn’t more widely used in Australia, is because of the funeral directors themselves. Because, “depending on where you are, there are places where Funeral Directors own their own cremators— they’ve got their own invested interests because they already have equipment.”
Could this really be the only reason why Australia only has one Alkaline Hydrolysis provider? Because other directors don't want to invest the time and money into a method that is proven to be an environmentally friendly alternative to fire cremation? According to the Australian Funeral Directors Association, “Funeral Directors are very traditional by nature, with many of them being from second to fifth generation. This might be one reason why they have not adopted the technology. Cost might be another. Legislation might be another.”
The environmental benefits of Alkaline Hydrolysis seem to be the best-selling point when talking about this method, it’s what makes it stand out from the current trends when it comes to body disposal. Some of the environmental benefits of Alkaline Hydrolysis include that it (provided by the FCAM):
Uses 1/8 of energy used usually in 1 flame cremation
75% reduction in carbon footprint compared to flame cremation
Pacemakers and medical devices don’t need to be removed as with flame cremation
Mercury dental fillings are recycled rather than vaporised (meaning less mercury in the air)
Chris Humphries offers another interesting point to the list of environmental benefits; “it takes 12 cremations to reach the allowed limit in the air, for the amount of mercury exposure. Cemeteries are doing thousands of cremations,” it is one thing about what that type of pollution does to the air, but what about the families that live around the crematories who have to breathe it in?
To get an understanding of how the public feels about Alkaline Hydrolysis, it is important to speak to those people, even if their realm of experience lies on the doorstep of the Funeral Industry.
“I certainly would consider it,” says Pauline, the chair of the Friends of Boroondara Cemetery, a group of individuals who research, maintain and conduct tours of Boroondara cemetery, in Melbourne. “Once you’re dead, who really cares what happens to what’s left. If it is done in an environmental way, why not?”
“I want the cemetery to be managed sustainably, and that includes the ashes.” Another member of the Friend of Boroondara Cemetery adds.
Generally, the group was easy to talk to and very willing to hear about Alkaline Hydrolysis and how it works and what benefits it has. People do show interest, even when it got to those gory details.
People are willing to listen to alternatives when it comes to the funeral industry and body disposal, so there really isn’t much of a reason for there to be a lack of public information, especially when a new method becomes available.
It is evident that society is moving in a direction of positivity, understanding and sustainability in urban development, and the funeral industry is no different. With this greener alternative in cremation slowly gaining ground in public awareness, increasing public knowledge and interest in the funeral industry is key in getting more people to achieve a Green-Funeral.
SECONDARY SOURCES:
Wilson, J.H., 2013. The History of Alkaline Hydrolysis. Good Funeral Guide. Retrieved 19th September 2019, <https://www.goodfuneralguide.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/History-of-Alkaline-Hydrolysis.pdf>
Team of Funeral Consumers Alliance of Minnesota, N/A, Alkaline Hydrolysis: Green Cremation, Funeral Consumers Alliance of Minnesota, retrieved 23rd of September 2019, < http://fcaofmn.org/alkaline-hydrolysis-green-cremation.html>
Rubin, G. 2012, Comparing Cremation and Alkaline Hydrolysis, A Good Goodbye, retrieved 27th of September 2019, <https://agoodgoodbye.com/tools-of-the-trade/comparing-cremation-and-alkaline-hydrolysis/>
PICTURE REFERENCES:
Defort, E, 2019, 19 States now permit Alkaline Hydrolysis, Arizona Funeral, Cemetery and Cremation Association, retrieved 19th of September 2019, <https://azfcca.org/19-states-now-permit-alkaline-hydrolysis/>
Rawle E., 2019, Picture of graves at Boroondara Cemetery, taken 7th of September 2019, iPhone