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.
[…]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.
It’s a patented process which means the inventor thinks it should be profitable, too. Even when dead you have to pay.
Never thought of being freeze dried but seems more energy demanding than cremation – which also takes up quite a bit energy.
How about a wood chipper and a compost pile.
ROFL
“Even when dead you have to pay.”
That’s nothing new.
A good zombie this will not make.
Yeah, because the earth has had so much trouble returning dead bodies to nature.
This looks like a solution in search of a problem. Just put an unembalmed body in a biodegradable wood coffin and let nature take care of the rest. Unless you want your freeze-dried remains spread on your garden, I guess.
You can also be dumped in a huge pressure cooker with lye and cooked a few hours. Whats left can be flushed down the drain. Many veterinary schools use this process for carcasses. It cheaper and environmentally friendlier than cremation. To most the thought of liquid remains being dumped in the sewer may not be comforting.
What about all the dead whales that pollute the oceans and dead bears that pollute the forests?
If you REALLY want to go green, have a Mulching.
“the inventor thinks it should be profitable, too.”
If this is for profit, then you would have to pay taxes on it, right?
Two things you can’t avoid. Death and Taxes.
just skip the embalming and put your naked body in a hole in the ground. or just throw it out in a field and let the buzzards take care of it. A lot easier and more eco friendly than some labor intensive process…
#9 jbenson2
Yeah, and what about all those dead leaves and trees and flowers, dead grass, dead birds and bees and all the dead bugs and all the living things that die every year, they’re really polluting the earth, we gotta stop all this pollution from all the dead things, like your brain…
…and all the dead squirrels and cats that get run over and all the deers and rabbits that get hit by cars and are polluting the roads and highways??
I think it’s all the dead fish and crabs and shrimps that are polluting the oceans ans the bears that poop in woods that are polluting the earth.
Just my opinion, I could be wrong but I don’t think so.
Alternate burial methods:
1. Stuffed into crawl-space.
2. Bricked up in basement (preferably while still alive).
3. Pyramid (along with 100s of slaves).
4. Eaten by cat.
5. Roam earth as zombie.
6. Shot our of cannon into the sun.
7. Soylent green.
8. U.S. senator.
9. Become blog-contributor on dvorak.org
10. Late-night talk show following Jay Leno.
This is so stupid. The ancient Romans had it wired, until Catholicism convinced them that they get their bodies back.
A family would own a large marble tub, with a lid. When someone would die, they put the body in the tub, with some lye, cover it, and leave it alone for a year or so. The body would decompose, even the bones. Then they would eventually bury what little was left.
The tubs, their proper names escape me right now, were beautiful pieces of art, with elaborate carvings.
Because the family would only need one, the cost was almost nothing for subsequent generations, unless it broke.
Makes perfect sense to me. Why can’t we revive this practice?
My solution: my neighbor runs a crematorium for a mortuary. Just burn me and throw me.
Bury me in a biodegradable box and plant a tree over me. I won’t miss the wake nor will I notice the absence of a fine silk lining.
#13 Conrack – so you see the logic in spending thousands of dollars per corpse, just to satisfy your off the wall Green Movement Tree-Hugger mentality.
Cremation requires a lot of energy, you also need to remove pacemakers, artificial joints, mercury fillings etc.
Burying raw bodies requires a deep enough hole and enough space, – one person per tree in a forest would be ideal but at the density of regular cemetaries they aren’t going to degrade fast enough not to be a health hazard.
Freeze drying is a reasonable solution, cheap, safe and clean.
I can’t wait for Al Gore to try it out!
It all reminds me of when Winston Churchill was informed that his Mother-in-law had passed away. I paraphrase here:
He was asked whether the body should be cremated or buried at sea. He replied, “Both. We’ll take no chances!”
But really, Soylent Green or just plain old wrapped in a sheet and buried works for me. Stuffed and mounted on a wall somewhere might be okay too, as long as they get my hair right!
I want to disposed of in the way that releases the most carbon possible. I would also like ever single attendee to my wake to light up their own charcoal grill.
And then there is always Lifegem
Creating Diamonds from Cremated Ashes
Man, liberal guilt over how you leave this planet! This is fun!
I’m dying to try this..
Getting buried is stupid. You’re dead, you don’t need to be taking up space for generations. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, after that – dust in the wind.
OTOH, Solyent green is the true ‘green’ solution.
I was going to suggest a paper mache coffin and no embalming but then I realized that all you have to do is to pick a location and leave the remains to the scavengers. Everything will get recycled.
This nitrogen freeze-drying process uses about 1/3 the energy of cremation, allows for decomposition of the remains in less than a year (years faster than simple shroud burial), and removes toxic metals like mercury for safe disposal.
A variant: superfreeze your body then let your surviving friends smash you into bits like a pinata.