Freeze-dried funerals could soon be arriving in the UK as an environmentally friendly and space-saving alternative to cremations and burials.
Swedish marine biologist Susanne Wiigh-Masak, 54, has developed a process that ecologically composts the body into mineral-rich soil instead of it turning to dust inside a sealed casket.
And authorities around the world, including Scotland, are now scrutinising if the revolutionary Promession technology could help tackle the problem of what to do with the remains of the 60 million people who die each year.
Before starting Promessa Organics, a corpse-composting company in Gothenburg, Sweden, Wiigh-Masak spent 15 years as an environmental engineer at a petrochemical plant. This gave her the background to develop a technology called Promession, which she says creates the conditions that allow a corpse to compost to soil instead of rotting.
One obstacle that interferes with humans being able to compost into soil, Wiigh-Masak says, is that humans are buried in one piece, which is too big for the microorganisms and animals that typically turn organic waste into dirt.
Other factors preventing bodies from composting to soil include too much moisture in human remains and coffins that don’t permit enough oxygen to enter. All this typically leads to rotting, liquefying, and decaying of bodies instead of a soil-producing process, Wiigh-Masak says.
Her approach is to use cold instead of heat to break down tissue. Specifically, the Promession process fragments a corpse into pieces that can be managed by composting animals. In a first step, a body is frozen with liquid nitrogen and then vibrated so that the body breaks into smaller pieces. Next, the pieces are transported to a freeze dryer under vacuum, which removes the 70% water found in a human body.
Although Wiigh-Masak aims for Promession to be an alternative to embalming, she says that this vacuum process would remove any formaldehyde from corpses that were embalmed anyway.
Finally, with equipment developed by the food industry, chunks of mercury and other metals as small as 1 mm in diameter are removed. The remains of the deceased are placed in a biodegradable, cornstarch coffin that is about half the size of a typical casket.
Buried in a shallow topsoil grave, where more oxygen can access the remains, the corpse will become soil within one year, she says. Her apparatus does not require a chimney or ventilation, so adds no residues to air or water.
The first “promatorium” is scheduled to open in Sweden next April, and it will process up to 1,500 bodies a year. South Korea is slated to follow suit and is currently in the process of constructing thirteen memorial parks to accommodate these types of burials on a large scale.
Some sixty countries with dense urban centers are considering the green and space-saving promession method. Some of these include: Scotland, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.
Wiigh-Masak has received regulatory approval to begin doing clinical tests of the process in Sweden and Germany this autumn, with humans who have volunteered for the procedure. Other tests will begin later this year in South Korea.
In a recent company briefing, Wiigh-Masak said: “There are many instances for which we humans do not want to accept given rules. The fact that our time on earth is limited is one of them. To be sure, it’s nice to see life as an unlimited reality, and equally nice to live it as if it were so. But imagine if life actually is that way, that we are a part of everything living and the only limit is the time we live in this body. What happens after our days have come to an end?
“As far as our soul is concerned there are likely to be as many views as there are people. Deep within our most private selves, each and every one of us probably has his or her own notions. Many of the ideas and ponderings that dwell within the inner self are, however, thoughts about there being some kind of continuation of life, even after we have taken our last breath. And there is no such thing as right or wrong in these matters. It is important that every individual is allowed to have his or her faith, since no one really has access to the answers.
“On the other hand, we know what happens to a body that is no longer alive. Here we have answers. But despite this we don’t want to accept the given rules, instead we have devised unbiological routines concerning our last resting place. This is not a complete surprise when you consider the fact that the rules and traditions we follow for an earth burial were created in the 12th century, and haven’t changed much since that time.
“Over the past 900 years, however, we humans have gained knowledge that we should be putting into practice. Among other things not known in the 12th century, we know what oxygen is. We also know that if something is to decompose and become mulch, oxygen is required. Yet we still bury our dead at a depth absent of oxygen without considering the relationship between knowledge and tradition, and thereby subject the dead corpse to a rotting process. We have always done so.
“Cremation was a new way of thinking in the 19th century, emerging from the hasty urbanization of the time and the need for hygiene in the rapidly growing cities. But from a biological point of view, this is neither ecologically correct nor environmentally sound. See separate text.
“My idea is to combine biological knowledge with a dignified and ethically correct way of being remembered by ones next of kin. The primary principles are preservation after death in organic form and shallow burial in living soil that quickly converts us to mulch. I am aware of the fact that this way of thinking is contrary to many customs. Yet we should try to adopt a more natural approach to our life and our death. Today’s burial traditions conceal reality from people and do not allow them to feel secure in the fact that death is essential to new life.
“Deeper insights in the ecological cycle provide greater understanding of and respect for life on earth. And with the knowledge of what happens to the body after death, it is my hope that people will find greater security in their physical fate. This, in turn, can give our minds greater freedom to ponder the spiritual issues that we all carry within ourselves.”
Steve, Manchester,UK around 10 months, 3 weeks ago