Alakaline hydrolysis – the facts
The ‘green cremation’ process known most widely in the UK as Resomation after the company of that name is more accurately termed alkaline hydrolysis. We were reminded of that recently by blog reader Jocelyne Monette, keen that we should get the history of alkaline hydrolysis right and give credit where credit is due. The Resomation […]
Keep calm and do the science
Well-meaning ignorance fuels lots of heated debate in Funeralworld. Broadsides of stats are exchanged, but how many of them are verifiable? In one thing we can trust: probably no one’s yet done the science. Take the following press release from the respected news agency Reuters: Globally, cremation emits over 6.8 million metric tonnes of carbon […]
Green cremation
It’s interesting to see how Resomation is taking off in the US — green cremation, they call it. Great name. In addition to the eco credentials and the energy efficiency of these Resomators, we wonder how just how attractive to US undertakers, sorry, funeral directors, is the lovely whiteness of the ‘ash’ you get from […]
Publishing event of the year!
The Natural Death Handbook, Fifth Edition A thoroughly updated and revised edition of the Natural Death Centre‘s celebrated handbook. Now presented alongside a new collection of essays on death, dying and funeral practices by doctors, historians, authors, poets, theologians and artists including Richard Barnett, David Jay Brown, Dr Sheila Cassidy, Charles Cowling, Bill Drummond, Stephen Grasso, […]
Burning news
Two interesting crematorium stories for you. The Sydney Morning Herald, in a story colourfully titled Crematoriums add corpse power to electricity grid, reports that Durham (Eng) crematorium is planning to “use the heat generated during cremation to provide enough electricity to power 1500 televisions. A third burner is to be used to heat the site’s chapel […]
Smashing news
Here’s how a recent piece in the Daily Mail began: Being freeze dried and smashed into little pieces sounds like the stuff of sci-fi horror movies. But it is one of two methods of dealing with our dearly departed that could soon be available from a funeral director near you. And in keeping with sci-fi’s […]
