Promession: A Return to the Living Soil

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Promessa Organic AB of Sweden is developing a new method of disposition for the dead called 'promession'. Promession is described as an environmentally friendly form of burial, and could in fact be the greenest of green disposition options. In addition to its green credentials, promession is offered as a more ethical option than cremation or burial. Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak, biologist and head of operations at Promessa Organic AB recently gave a very interesting and inspiring presentation at the 90th annual convention of the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) and agreed to discuss promession with me for this post.
The process of promession involves a promator, freezing human remains in liquid nitrogen (a byproduct of the compressed oxygen produced already for medical purposes.) Once frozen, the casket and remains are agitated with a shaking motion from a table below them, causing them to shatter into tiny pieces. These pieces are then freeze dried to remove all the moisture from them. Metals are then separated, and after being laid in a biodegradable coffin can be buried, returning all the nutritious components to the soil.
I asked Ms. Wiigh-Mäsak how she came to develop this process. She is both a biologist, and an engineer, and has been keenly interested in gardening and science since youth. A special interest has been composting, and she is careful to point out the difference between decomposition and rotting. According to Ms.Wiigh-Mäsak, proper composting involves decomposition, which requires the same conditions that sustain life: air, proper moisture and proper temperature. These conditions allow for a substance to break down to the nutrient level that can replenish the earth's living soil, and are necessary for enzymes and microorganisms to do their work as well. The alternative to decomposition, says Wiigh-Mäsak, is rotting. Rotting occurs when the remains are too large for the air and soil to act upon their surface readily enough to break down in a positive manner. In the case of rot, the body's substances return to the earth, but not in a form that is enriching and replenishing to the living soil.
Because of her deep interest in composting, Ms. Wiigh-Mäsak was struck by the idea that kitchen scraps are treated with more reverence than the bodies of our loved ones. The nutrients of an apple core, that have been taken from the earth, can be returned to it through proper composting techniques, but the six and a half billion human bodies that have drawn life from the living soil are destined to burn off, rot away or lock away their nutrients, rather than return them in a positive way to the earth.

1. The corpse is frozen down to -18 °C.

2. The coffin with the deceased is lowered into liquid nitrogen. The body becomes very firm and brittle.
3. The coffin and the body are exposed to a light vibration, disintegrating into dust.
4. Mercury and other metals are separated using an induced magnetic field.

5. 25 - 30 kg of the powder now remains. This is put into a coffin made from maize starch or potato starch.

6. The starch coffin is buried shallowly and will turn into compost in 6 - 12 months' time. A tree can be planted on the grave. It will then absorb the nutrients given off.

Combining her interests in biology and engineering Ms.Wiigh-Mäsak developed the promession concept. She argues that this process in essential for the health of the living soil as well as an appealing and respectful disposition of the dead. According to Ms. Wiigh-Mäsak, even direct burial in a shroud is not as positive for the earth because the mass of the body, and the amount of moisture left in it prevents proper decomposition and results in rotting. What is truly different about promession is the process whereby the body is broken down to a point where the proper composting and a positive return to the living soil is accomplished.
Ms. Wiigh-Mäsak describes the actual physical process of promession to be something that is appealing to witness, a process that even a small child could watch and not be disturbed or frightened.

So, how far away are we from having promession as an option to choose from? Promessa is currently preparing for operations in South Korea, where laws have been passed to allow for this form of disposition, and promession has been embraced by the Christian Church there. Sweden is also getting closer to allowing promession as an option. Leaders of many religious denominations have determined that promession is consistent with the tenets of their faith. As far as the future of promession in North America, laws must be passed to allow for promession, and Promessa is currently in the process of selecting licensees and promession providers.

For more information on Promessa AB and promession visit the web site at http://promessa.se/index_en.asp

Promession Considered in Scotland

http://www.1adventure.com/archives/cat_travel.html

A Faerie Glen in Scotland 

In September, an interview with Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak, developer of Promession was posted on The Daily Undertaker.  Since then, there hasn't been much in the news about the process becoming a real option for families, but I have heard from a great many people who would choose it for themselves if it were available.  Now there is news that the promession process may be gaining ground in Scotland.  Following is an excerpt from an acticle published today in the Scotsman by Jenny Haworth.  It seems that space restrictions and environmental concerns have given authorities cause to look into this worthy process.  Although the authorities seem to miss some key points about promession, namely that the remains would make a positive rather than a negative impact on the earth, and that the liquid nitrogen is a substance that is already produced as a by-product of liquid oxygen production, they cite sound reasons for considering the process. 

  

http://wwp.united-kingdom-uk.com/scotland/

BODIES could be freeze-dried and shattered into dust to save space and help the environment, under plans being considered by a Scottish local authority.  East Lothian Council thinks the technique, invented in Sweden, could help ease cemetery congestion, while cutting emissions from cremations.  The process would involve freezing the dead body to -18C before submerging it in liquid nitrogen. This would make the body so brittle it would disintegrate into dust when a vibration was passed through it.

Stuart Pryde, the council's principal amenities officer, told community councillors that space in graveyards in East Lothian could run out within decades, and that freezing was a serious option for the future rather than building new crematoria.

He said: "There is a new system being developed where they basically freeze-dry you, hit you with a hammer and you break into dust, so there are no gas emissions – nothing.

"The end process is the same, in as much as there is a casket which can be buried or scattered or whatever, but it does not have the need for -emitting furnaces. It is a very, very clean way of getting the same result."  He added that it was particularly relevant to Musselburgh, because Inveresk Cemetery could not be extended.

The process, known as promession, is considered more environmentally friendly than cremation, largely because it avoids the mercury pollution created by burning fillings in teeth and other metal objects in the body, such as replacement joints or surgical implants.

Exposure to mercury is linked to damage to the brain, nervous system and fertility, and crematoria are believed to be one of the main sources of mercury pollution in the UK.

A spokeswoman for the council acknowledged the process might not be popular with some. "It's considered to be a very environmentally friendly way of doing it, but of course some people think it sounds dreadful to be freeze-dried," she said.

"Who knows, in the future something like that might become as acceptable as cremations. When crematoria were first invented they were also not considered acceptable."

Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, praised the council for considering the environmental impact of disposing of bodies.

"There are certainly a lot of concerns about crematoria," he said. 

"You have got hazardous emissions from the smoke stack. There's a metal component in amalgam used in teeth, as well as in pacemakers. 

"Another concern is that like other species, human bodies are increasingly riddled with chemical substances. Like any other combustion source this can be of serious local concern."

However, he suggested East Lothian Council should carry out more research before moving ahead with the technology, to make sure that the energy used to cool the body to -18C did not negate the environmental benefit.http://news.scotsman.com

 

Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak, 

biologist and head of operations at Promessa Organic AB

The article goes on to report that the Church of Scotland has no ethical issues with the process, and Ms. Wiigh-Mäsak is allowed to explain the process and point out some of its benefits, including a possible expansion of where people can be legally buried:

SUSANNE Wiigh-Mäsak, the biologist who invented the promession process, said: "The main principle of this ecological form of burial is that the corpse is transformed into an organic, odourless, hygienic powder. This, in combination with a dedicated method to separate contaminants such as mercury, sharply reduces impact on the environment in comparison with today's forms of burial.

"The use of cryogenic technology in the process reduces the impact on the air we breathe, since there are no emissions of smoke or mercury to the air. 

"Mercury emissions in particular are a serious problem for which no acceptable solution has been found. 

"Even the greenhouse effect, which has increased in pace with man's use of fossil fuels, is reduced by using liquid nitrogen instead of combustibles. The burial itself takes place in a shallow grave, in the upper mulch-forming layers of the soil. 

"Here we find life-giving oxygen and the busy little break-down specialists, the micro-organisms that are the basis for our existence, at the same time as they are a prerequisite to the process of decomposition.

"The coffin and its contents are transformed into mulch in about half a year, thus becoming an important contribution to the living earth. In this way, ecological burial does not add to eutrophication of the seas via ground water or run-off, and vital drinking water is spared. 

"Since the remains do not cause any impact on the environment, this should also lift restrictions making it possible to place gravesites freely; in the home, on family property or other places with emotional ties to the deceased and next of kin."

for the full article, visit http://news.scotsman.com

For more information on Promessa AB and promession visit the web site at http://promessa.se/index_en.asp

Swedish Town Recycles Heat from Cremation - Is it Green?

http://www.andreagalvani.com/

Photo by Andrea Galvani

In the news today on treehugger.com, was a story of a Swedish town that after evaluating the environmental impact of their crematory, decided to recycle the heat normally released from the retort, back into heating the building, and in turn into the town. At first this may seem like they are heating their town by burning bodies, but that is not the case at all. Cremation requires an enormous amount of energy to accomplish the combustion of a body. The body is not fuel, natural gas is. What is happening, is that the heat that is used for the combustion is rerouted back into the system, rather than just being released into the atmosphere.

Whether this recycling is really 'green' depends upon your perspective. It is greener than cremation without the recapture of heat energy, but it is certainly not the 'greenest' way of dealing with human remains. In my opinion, promession is ultimately the greenest, and following that, would be local burial in a burlap shroud, we would go quite a way down the list before arriving at cremation. Certainly this not the greenest or most efficient way to heat the town, either.

Perhaps though, like most of us, it is somewhere in the middle. Most people would like to be as green as possible while still giving priority to other concerns, and for those who desire cremation, for whatever reason, this is a greener cremation. In funerals, I have found that green is more often a matter of degree than an absolute.

I would liken this recycling to requesting memorials rather than flowers at a funeral service. You are channeling energy to what you see as a positive direction. Some people will still send flowers anyway, and that's okay too. In the end it's about showing support to the family and acting in the spirit of the one who has died, not a fundraiser or telethon.

http://flickr.com/photos/samanthalamb/249352861/

October 2009 update, Taipei Funeral Parlor plans to recycle the heat from cremation