Just when we are starting to get our hands around the idea of green burials and alkaline hydrolysis joining the traditional methods of earth burial and flame cremation as new concepts in the disposition of human remains along comes an article on what is termed as “ecoLation” to give us more to think about as the death care industry moves forward.

An article in 27east.com touts a new process in the future of the death care industry whereby a human remains would be chilled until it becomes brittle and then reduced by a mechanical press into small particles.  After those particles are then exposed to heat and pressure they leave a white powder similar to what a cremation leaves behind.  And all this is done with emitting only about 1% of amount of CO2 that cremations do.

This is dubbed “ecoLation” and was created by an Ireland based company, EcoLegacy.  “We’re going to change the world” is what one board member of the company has said.  He continued, “I think we’re going to be one of the paradigm shifters”.

According to the article, this is not all science fiction.  One of the founders of EcoLegacy is Tony Ennis, who made millions in the energy manufacturing sector in Europe.  The company just finished a six year research and development phase using pigs as test subjects.

Funeral Director Daily take:  This is a great article on a possible new development in the disposition of human remains.  It not only talks about this potential cryo processing but about existing methods and the history and pros and cons of those methods.  An interesting part of this article also explains EcoLegacy’s thought process about introducing the procedure to the United States and a possible ramp up strategy.

A young funeral director is interviewed in the article and makes a very interesting statement that I believe is true of the death care industry now and will be even more so in the future.  John Abbate of Brockettt Funeral Home in Southampton opines that as younger, more environmentally cautious, less religiously affiliated generations age, the funeral industry will change drastically and the new guard of funeral directors will primarily be “options oriented”.

Just reading this article helps one understand how fast the age-old funeral service industry in America can change.  As with many other businesses across the globe, none can just stand pat and expect to profit for years anymore.  Innovation will be driving factor in just about all businesses – including death care — moving forward.

As you move your funeral home forward make sure that you are “Options oriented” so you can serve your community whatever the client family’s wish is.[wpforms id=”436″ title=”true” description=”true”]