Bring out your dead and compost them

By Trash Talk on Apr 24, 08 09:52 AM in

You see some strange things in the waste and recycling business. While doing some research into composting methods for Premier Waste Management I came across a new method of disposal for human remains.

Freezing your dead.

Sweden is considering allowing you to "bury" your loved ones by first freezing them and then turning them into compost.

The dead body is first dunked into liquid nitrogen (this is exceptionally cold at -196 degrees Celsius). The body is now so cold that it can be shattered and vibrated into smaller particles.

The remains are then dehydrated, metals and other non-biological body parts are extracted (things like heart pacemakers, replacement hips, etc).

You end up with 75 kilograms of pink powder. Pour this into your "coffin" a small biodegradable box that can be planted. As long as this is planted in a shallow grave the inventor of the process states that both coffin and remains break down into compost. The inventor of the process (Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak) even suggests planting a tree over the grave to provide a living monument to the person buried there.

The idea is that this freezing method is more ecologically friendly than burial or cremation.

Traditional wooden caskets takes lots of energy and resources to build and then end up six feet under. The body decomposes without air so produces methane - a powerful greenhouse gas. Plus burial grounds take up space.

Cremation also has a carbon footprint - practically all the carbon in the body and the coffin become carbon dioxide once they are burnt.

I am all for reducing a carbon footprint but I do have my reservations. The freezing process will also have a carbon footprint - energy will have to be used to liquefy the nitrogen, vibrate the remains to powder, dry it and extract any metal. The remains do not become compost until they have been planted in soil and some aerobic digestion has taken place - as any one who has a compost bin will tell you sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't, who is to say how well the remains will compost?

Not surprisingly the Swedish government has yet to give the go ahead for this process.

But I expect this method of disposal to turn up in a crime novel any day now!

If you want to read more you will find their website here.