UK launches first eco-friendly water cremation facilities

With more than three-quarters of Brits now choosing cremation over traditional burials – and around the same portion admitting to having environmental concerns – demands for an environmentally friendly option to fire cremation are finally being met.

By the end of this year, Co-op Funeralcare, the UK’s largest funeral care provider, Co-op will begin offering water cremation on a wide scale. Water cremation is known by various names – aquamation, resomation, and alkaline hydrolysis.

The process involves placing the body inside a large pressurised canister filled with water and an alkaline solution. The solution is heated up to 150C for three to four hours, allowing for the body to dissolve into its chemical components (amino acids, peptides, salts, and sugars) within a bag, until only soft bones are left behind.

The water is then drained from the tube and – similar to fire cremation – the bones are ground down, transferred to an urn, and given to the family.

Analysis shows that aquamation is a far more sustainable option, given that it doesn’t release toxic gases or pollutants.

Given that Co-op Funeralcare arranges over 90,000 funerals each year, it has agreed to continue researching the potential environmental impacts of aquamation during its national pilot.

We’ll have to wait and see if cremation using water instead of fire becomes a preferred option within the UK. According to a recent YouGov poll, 89 percent of British adults weren’t familiar with the process.

The good news is, once participants were informed about the process, over a third said they would opt for it once it became available.

Only one thing in life is certain and that’s death. There’s no way around that fact, but it is good to know there is a greener way to go about it.