Cremation? No I’ll be liquefied & then flushed down drain
Device set for debut in Britain hits permit snag
BODIES are to be liquefied and flushed down drains in new “water cremations”.
The £300,000 Resomator devices, three of which are already in use in the US, turn corpses into soft bone and 330 gallons of brown liquid in about three hours.
The process is said to be more environmentally friendly than traditional cremation.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, near Birmingham, has given its crematorium in Rowley Regis planning consent to install one of the machines, which are built in West Yorkshire.
And Resomation founder Sandy Sullivan, 61, claims dozens of funeral directors here are interested.
He said: “There is no technical reason the liquid can’t go down the drain. It is sterile and there is no DNA in it.
DISSOLVED
“We are copying nature. The body dissolves by soil bacteria. This is a third option, other than cremation and burial.”
However, the councilowned site in Rowley Regis needs a trade effluent licence from Severn Trent Water to use the drains and the utility has refused one, saying it covers waste disposal and not dissolved bodies.
It is understood that the Ministry of Justice and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have been asked to give guidance.
A source at trade body Water UK said: “We are not convinced and believe the technology needs to be explored in greater depth.
“It is the liquefied remains of the dead going into the water system. We don’t think the public will like the idea.”
But Sandwell council said: “The funeral industry is evolving and modernising, and we want to offer people more choice. Water cremation would give a more environmentally friendly option.”