Ecological funeral

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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.

The following three steps characterize the method:

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.
Removal and recycling of metals.
Depositing the powder shallowly in a biodegradable casket.

The first facility for ecological funerals, known as a promatorium, should be ready in 2007 in a pilot installation in Stockholm, Sweden.

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 was developed in response to new European Union pollution laws.