Council plan to liquefy bodies in eco-friendly alternative to cremation hits blockage

A council’s plan to offer an eco-friendly alternative to cremation by liquefying the dead has hit a blockage after water companies refused permission for flushing the remains down the drain.

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in the west Midlands has approved the installation of a £300,000 “Resomator” for water cremations at its Rowley Regis crematorium.

The process, known as alkaline hydrolysis, uses chemicals, heat, and pressure to dissolve bodies to bone in less than three hours and uses significantly less energy than cremation.

Manufacturers say this is simply a sped-up version of the decomposition that takes place with a burial and the liquid remnants are tested and filtered before being flushed into the water supply.

However Severn Trent Water has refused the crematorium’s request for a “trade effluent” permit which would be necessary for disposing of body remnants into the water supply, The Sunday Times reports.

The water sector is now waiting on guidance from the Ministry of Justice and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs before to set out how alkaline hydrolysis remains should be disposed of.

However these burials are already taking place in several countries, including Australia and the USA.

Canadian company AquaGreen said last year it had completed more than 200 water cremations in its first year of business.

The solution is filtered twice before being put flushed into the Ontario water supply and the company said the process is: “100 per cent green”.

In Sandwell the council is working with UK company, Resomation, which produces the pressurised resomator chambers where bodies are first weighed to calculate the chemical mix needed to dissolve the body.

The tank is then filled with a highly alkaline solution and heated to 152C to dissolve the body.

This leaves behind teeth, bones and any foreign objects – such as artificial hips or fillings - which are rinsed and sorted before the bones are ground and returned in an urn.

This compares to the temperatures of up to 1150C used in cremation, with each body taking up to 70 minutes to be reduced to ash.

A report by the UK Burial and Cremation Education Trust says each cremation produces four times as much CO₂ as a burial, and also contributes to mercury pollution from vaporised fillings.

Sandwell Council said it wants to harness the environmental benefits of this process and when the approval process and will be the first water crematorium in the country when final approval is given.

A Sandwell Council spokesperson said: "The funeral industry is evolving and modernising and we want to offer people more choice.

"Water cremation is the next phase in this evolution and would give people an option that is more environmentally friendly than traditional cremation.

"We are working closely with Resomation UK, Water UK and other regulatory bodies to explore all options for the introduction of this new process.

“Once approved, Rowley Regis Crematorium in Sandwell will be the first in the UK to offer a water cremation."

A Severn Trent spokesperson told The Independent: "In the absence of guidance from government on this matter, and without an industry standard or a thorough appraisal of public opinion, Severn Trent has refused to accept a discharge from this process to our sewers.

A source at Water UK, the trade body representing regional water suppliers, told The Sunday Times: “This is an absolute first in the UK, we have serious concerns about the public acceptability of this.

"It is the liquefied remains of the dead going into the water system. We don’t think the public will like the idea.”

The Independent has approached Water UK for comment but none had arrived at the time of publication.