Dissolving the dead: A look inside NZ’s first water cremation business

Jo Piper helped pioneer water cremation for animals with her business Pet Angel Wings in Masterton.

New Zealand funeral directors are calling for water cremation to be allowed here for the disposal of human bodies, as it is in Australia and the US. They say it’s cheaper, cleaner, and as Susie Nordqvist reports, they’re pushing for a law change.

It takes just hours for a corpse to be dissolved, leaving behind only liquid and soft bones that can be easily crushed into powder and returned to families.

It’s called water cremation - also known as bio-cremation and alkaline hydrolysis - and involves a body being placed in a high-pressure stainless-steel unit that looks similar to a chest freezer, and heated under pressure with a mix of water and potassium hydroxide.

And there’s a push for it to be available in New Zealand.

Funeral Directors Association of NZ chief executive Gillian Boyes said the Burials and Cremations Act currently only allows for standard cremations and burials, and a review has been under way since 2010.

“The Ministry of Health will get it over the line, but it has been a very long time coming and we are a little bit frustrated,” she told the Herald.

She said water cremation is available to people in New South Wales, in states across America - and it may soon be introduced into the United Kingdom.

“All over the country people are having conversations about more environmentally-sustainable ways of disposing of the dead, so it’s really important the opportunity is offered to New Zealanders.

“We’ve got members who want to introduce it right away. They’ve got applications on their desks,” she said.

New Zealand funeral directors are calling for water cremation to be allowed here. Water cremation leaves behind just fluid and soft bones that can be crushed and returned to families.

While water cremation isn’t yet legal for human bodies in New Zealand, it is available - for pets.

Three years ago, embalmer Jo Piper helped pioneer water cremation for animals with her business Pet Angel Wings in Masterton.

Jo Piper helped pioneer water cremation for animals with her business Pet Angel Wings in Masterton.

“Everyone gives me a funny look: What’s water cremation?”

Piper cremates animals and recommends it as an option.

“It’s gentle, it’s dignified, it’s respectful, it’s natural and it’s also sustainable. There are zero emissions, there are no greenhouse gases.

“If you were to be buried in the ground instead of taking years to break down - this process takes hours” she said.

“The alkali we use is also used in the manufacture of lipstick in small percentages of course, also shaving foam. People who make soap at home, soap from the supermarket - it also has potassium hydroxide.”

In New Zealand human bodies can legally be buried in a cemetery, at sea, donated to science or cremated with flame. Latest figures show 69 per cent of those who die in New Zealand are cremated.

“Water cremation is the way of the future,” said Piper.

“We have to move forward.”

Water cremation leaves behind just liquid and soft bones. Pictured is a dog's skeleton.