Founder of Pure Reflections, a resomarium based in Navan, Elizabeth Oakes joined Shane and Ciara.

Water cremation may be the most environment-friendly way to pass on. 

Joining Shane Coleman and Ciara Kelly on The Hard Shoulder to discuss was Elizabeth Oakes, Founder of Pure Reflections, a resomarium based in Navan, County Meath.

She presented the resomarium or water-cremation process as an environmentally friendly process that is a gentle alternative to flame cremation and burial. 

The process produces no carbon emissions and the family of the deceased receive similar results as with fire cremation - the bones of their loved ones. 

Mrs Oakes explained that with water cremation, about 50 percent of people’s loved ones were returned because every bone was preserved through the chemical process. 

She added that currently bodies can take up to 70 years to be properly decomposed after death due to higher rates of embalmment, polyester clothing and the prevalence of plastic-lined coffins. 

“This technology speeds up that natural decomposition process. Instead of taking 50 years on the ground, it takes three hours. It uses  95% water and 5% alkaline. 

“It's completely opposite to an acid, it's an alkaline.

“We're left with the bones which are completely sterile and also the water is highly fertile in nature but it's also sterile. The water isn't actually lost in the process but it's actually recycled and returned to the ecosystem.”

Mrs Oakes assured the process was a very environmentally conscious and sustainable one. 

She added that the expression of such burials as ‘boil in the bag’ was “really terrible”. 

“It’s completely misleading. There is no balance and there is no boiling but I think it's papers and sensationalism that have created that headline but it's completely untrue”, she told Newstalk. 

She said that one of the most appealing qualities of this burial form was the price. 

“There's no coffin needed in the Resumation process so you know you really can reduce the cost of your funeral considerably”, she told The Hard Shoulder. 

“If you choose a funeral directly through Pure Reflections and the full cost of a funeral is $3,700 compared to your 7,000 and 8,000, you know, on a nationwide scale.

“I do see the funerals are changing. The future of funerals is changing.”

She described the process as “a nice gentle shower or a jacuzzi bath” where the water is just gently washed over the body so you're not submerged.

Main Image: Drop of water.