For many years now, the trend of green burials has become increasingly popular, with people trying to find a way to both limit the impact of their burial on our ecological system and also to try and keep the costs of their funeral as low as possible.
Typically the choice for a funeral is between burial and cremation, with the option of a green burial appealing to many. Woodland burial sites are cropping up all over the country, with the concept of becoming ‘at one’ with Mother Nature as a preferable option.
A new trend is set to hit the UK this year though, fresh from the USA and Canada, thanks to the innovative use of an alkaline solution, which essentially dissolves the body without the need for fire. The technical name for the eco-friendly process is ‘alkaline hydrolysis’ but it is being branded as the new ‘green cremation’. It is thought that at present there are only 14 funeral homes in the world who are offering this service to their clients.
The Bradshaw Celebration of Life Center in Minnesota were one of the first organisations to offer this service and built their own alkaline hydrolysis machine five years ago, at a cost of $750,000 (approx. £580,000). The manufacturer of the machine, Resomation Ltd, is a UK company and they plan to install one of these machines in Sandwell, near Birmingham, towards the end of 2017. So if this is an option that appeals to you, watch this space.
For a (very!) detailed overview of how the process works – including diagrams and photographs of the equipment – click here to be redirected to the BBC article.
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