Water way to go: Funeral bosses plan to boil bodies to dust

Cemetery bosses are in talks with a British firm which plans to turn bodies to dust rapidly by submerging them in water and heating them to 150C (302F).

The process - called resomation - is similar to cremation but the company claims it is better for the environment.

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This is because it uses less energy and does not emit any harmful chemicals.

When a body is cremated, it is heated to up to 1,200C (2,192F) and lets off a number of harmful gases, including high levels of mercury. With resomation, there is also no wooden coffin to be destroyed.

It would cost up to £300,000 to install a machine and the cost per funeral would be around £300 - about the same as a cremation.

While the process is not yet a legal alternative to burial or cremation, the Government has said it will consider any application.

The City of London Cemetery and Crematorium is in talks with Glasgow firm Resomation, which hopes to start installing chambers across the country.

The company has registered the name as a trademark. It is based on the Greek word resoma - which means rebirth of the human body.

Already, up to 1,100 bodies have been treated this way in the US.

The firm is holding 'resomation roadshows' at crematoriums across the country and has approached the Government in the hope that its system will be approved.

In the new process a silk coffin enters a chamber and is submerged in hundreds of litres of water mixed with potassium hydroxide, an alkali.

The body is then brought up to temperature. In two hours it turns into white dust.

Chemically, the process is similar to - but much faster than - natural decomposition.

Afterwards, the 'bio-ashes' are returned to loved ones.

Ian Hussein, director of the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, said: "It's a very exciting development. I think it could become as popular as burial."

Sandy Sullivan, managing director of Resomation, said: "I'm 100 per cent sure it could be a success.

"It's a better option than cremation from an eco-friendly perspective."

The Government is encouraging local authorities to find new ways of disposing of the dead because burial space is running out.