Water cremation arrives in UK
For the first time in 120 years, a new funeral choice is about to become available in the UK. Resomation – also known as water cremation, or a “boil in the bag” funeral – will be offered later this year and is the first new legal method of disposing of bodies since the 1902 Cremation Act. The practice, where a body is dissolved in water treated with an alkali, is legal in most US states, Canada and South Africa, where anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu chose it for his funeral arrangements last year. It’s described as a greener funeral alternative, with a lower carbon footprint than a gas-fired cremation – the body dissolves in about four hours and the bones are returned to the family in the same way as cremated ash. The resulting water goes back into the drainage systems after tests found there was no risk and no DNA was found in the samples.
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