Promessa Organic

Promessa Organic AB is a Swedish company with headquarters in Göteborg, Sweden. For over 20 years, marine biologist Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak has been developing a new form of ecological burial.

The process involves freeze-drying the remains, which are then reduced to a white powder. The remains are then placed in a biodegradeable casket, which is then interred in a shallow grave. A memorial tree or bush can be placed above the interment site. Within a year, the contents have decomposed and have been converted to loam, nourishing the newly planted memorial. The company claims that this is ecologically friendly.^[1]

The first Promatorium was due to be opened in the Spring of 2011 in Sweden, followed shortly by sites in the UK and South Korea.^[2] However, as of April 2012, the first Promatorium (or Promator as Promessa Organic calls it) is still said to be '6 to 12 months' away from construction.

The process has so far never been tested on human remains. Tests on dead pigs has been claimed to show that much more brute force would be needed than what has been told. Initial backers of Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak and Promessa Organic; Swedish funeral home Fonus and gas provider AGA AB, has left the project after Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak reportedly has failed to provide evidence of the process being operational. Church of Sweden has ended the cooperation and sold off their company shares in Promessa Organic. Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak is claiming that she is being worked against by the Swedish crematory organisation and the funeral directors of Sweden. Professor in cellular biology and medicine, Bengt R Johansson of Gothenburg University, goes as far as calling the process surrounding the promessa method a fraud.^[3]

In several cases, the dead remains of people wanting to go through the promessa process has been waiting for up to ten years, in some cases resulting in forced burials to comply with Swedish burial law. The method itself has come under criticism for not being real.^[4]

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