Ecological funeral

An ecological funeral, also known as promession, is a method for allowing the body of the deceased to decompose in an environmentally-friendly way. It was invented and patented in 1999 by the Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak.

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The following three steps characterize the method:

1. Reducing the body of the deceased to a fine powder, thereby allowing later decomposition to be aerobic. This is achieved by submerging the body in liquid nitrogen, which makes the remains so brittle that it shatters as the result of a slight vibration. The remains are then dried, reducing them to around 30% of the original body weight.
2. Removal and recycling of metals.
3. Burying the powder shallowly in a biodegradable casket.

The first facilities for ecological funerals, known as Promators, should be ready in 2008 in Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, South Korea and South Africa.

The volume of remains left by this procedure is about three times that left by a cremation, but the claimed advantages include the avoidance of the release of pollutants into the atmosphere, such as mercury vapour from dental fillings, and the rapid degradation of the remains after the procedure (6-12 months). The procedure meets the requirements of new European Union pollution laws.

The terms promession and Promator are artificially created terms. The term promession is derived from the Italian word for promise and the promise is good environmental management of the Earth.

See also

• Natural burial
• Sky burial
• Eco-cemetery