Brit crematorium planning to freeze-dry, dissolve dead bodies

LONDON - A council-run crematorium in Britain has proposed a plan to freeze-dry or dissolve dead bodies which they say would be more environmentally-friendly than traditional funerals.

Bosses at Cambridge City Crematorium have asked the council to let them use futuristic technologies, which include using liquid nitrogen to chill a body to -196C, in a process called “promession” or “cyromation”.

Once the body is brittle it can be fragmented and cleaned, and then freeze-dried to remove moisture, with the dust being used for environmentally friendly compost or buried in a biodegradable casket.

Besides that, crematorium chiefs also want to place bodies in silk bags and submerge them in a 160C alkaline solution - which would dissolve them in around three hours.

The grisly procedure, called “resomation”, dissolves all the organs and bones and leaves behind white dust and a green-brown liquid, which can be disposed in a number of different ways, including being flushed into the sewerage system.

Bereavement services manager Tracy Lawrence said the “greener” alternatives emit less pollution than traditional cremation.

“The plans proposes improvements to the quality and value of services to customers and envisages a modern, forward-looking service delivering good value and offering improved returns to future investment,” the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

The move is intended to tackle a lack of burial space and environmental concerns, as each cremated corpse releases 573lbs of carbon dioxide.

Although the ashes can be recycled in waste systems, the residue can also be put in urns and handed over to relatives of the dead like normal ashes from crematoriums.

Six states in America have passed legislation to allow resomation and the Scottish company Resomation Ltd says it is in talks to allow the process in the UK. (ANI)