We're all up for any eco-friendly measure that's thrown our way - hey, the planet needs whatever help it can get. But when the words 'liquefy' and 'bodies' are put together, it doesn't exactly make for a combination you'd either expect or want to hear.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands has approved the installation of a £300,000 ($400,000) 'resomator' for water cremations at its Rowley Regis crematorium in the Black Country.
The process is apparently a sped-up version of decomposition known as alkaline hydrolysis, which uses chemicals, heat and pressure to dissolve bodies to bone. It takes less than three hours, and uses much less energy than cremation.
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Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council is working with UK company Resomation, which produces pressurised resomator chambers. It's in here that bodies are first weighed - to see how much of the chemical mix is needed to dissolve the body - before the tank is filled with the highly alkaline solution and heated to 152°C.
However, it's not likely to go ahead just yet, as the Times reports that Severn Trent Water has refused the crematorium's request for a 'trade effluent' permit - something that is required for disposing of body remains in the water supply.
"This is an absolute first in the UK," a source at Water UK, the trade body representing regional water suppliers, told the newspaper. "We have serious concerns about the public acceptability of this.
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"It is the liquefied remains of the dead going into the water system. We don't think the public will like the idea."
The burials are already taking place in many other countries around the world, including Australia, Canada and the USA.
Dale Hilton, the owner of Canadian company AquaGreen Dispositions - which has apparently completed more than 200 water cremations in its first year of business, told CBC news: "It brings your body back to its natural state.
"It's the same way as being buried in the ground, but instead of taking 15, 20 years to disintegrate, it does it in a quicker process.
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Credit: PA
A Sandwell Council spokesperson said: "The funeral industry is evolving and modernising and we want to offer people more choice.
"Water cremation is the next phase in this evolution and would give people an option that is more environmentally friendly than traditional cremation.
"We are working closely with Resomation UK, Water UK and other regulatory bodies to explore all options for the introduction of this new process.
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"Once approved, Rowley Regis Crematorium in Sandwell will be the first in the UK to offer a water cremation."
A Severn Trent spokesperson also told the Independent: "In the absence of guidance from government on this matter, and without an industry standard or a thorough appraisal of public opinion, Severn Trent has refused to accept a discharge from this process to our sewers."
Pretty grim, eh?
Topics: Environment, uk news, News