“True Constitution of the French”(1), the Civil Code provides that the respect due to the human body “does not cease with death”.
As the remains of the deceased must “be treated with respect, dignity and decency(2)”, only burial and cremation are, to date, authorized in France.
Outside our borders, the lines have moved.
Preserving the planet has become a priority that encourages us to change our daily lifestyles.
Beyond our existence, our human remains are also an ecological issue and France will have to look into the question of the environmental impact of funerals.
For around twenty years, more environmentally friendly burial methods than burial of the bodies of the deceased in a cemetery or cremation in a crematorium have been sought.
The ecological goal pursued is twofold: a reduction in pollution during funerals, and possibly a transformation of human remains into fertile material for the planet.
Green Sun or natural cycle of life on Earth
Some people evoke with fear “Soleil Vert”, the American film based on the eponymous novel by Harry Harrisson, grand prize winner at the Avoriaz Fantastic Festival in 1974, which describes an Earth whose resources are exhausted in 2022!
Thorn, a police officer played by Charlton Heston, discovers that the population supposedly fed with plankton has in fact become cannibalistic.
The spectators remember his last tirade: “the green Sun is human flesh”.
Others claim the opposite, like the Humusation France association whose slogan is “give your life after your death by regenerating the Earth”.
Humusation, as its name indicates, effectively aims to transform the bodies of the deceased into humus to form a rich compost.
Study in sight for France
Thanks to an oral question that went somewhat unnoticed, the senator from Rhône Bernard Fialaire, emphasizing that the process is “ecological and economical”, asked the government on March 7 if it intended to look into humusation.
After reminding him that French law only allows burial and cremation, Marie Guévenoux, Minister Delegate in charge of Overseas Territories, replied that a working group “will be formed before the end of the first semester, under the aegis of the Council of State”.
Thus parliamentarians, academics, local authorities, funeral operators, families, qualified personalities and representatives of the administrations concerned will work jointly to fulfill the study mission.
The creation of this working group also responds to a bill proposed by Isère MP Élodie Jacquier Laforge, in order to launch an “experiment aimed at developing humusation”, to various amendments tabled on the theme and to a petition in line which has collected more than 26,500 signatures.
The significant environmental impact of deaths
Currently, whether families choose burial or cremation, in both cases the option is harmful to the planet.
The first leaves the soil polluted and the second consumes fossil energy.
In terms of CO2 equivalent, a funeral costs more than 4,000 km traveled by car and a cremation more than 1,000 km, according to the estimate from the Fondation Services Funéraires de la Ville de Paris.
To the layers of polluting varnish on exotic wooden coffins, to concrete vaults whose production is energy-intensive, to urns placed in a columbarium, to granite monuments imported from a distant country... All the choices are polluting and add up, in addition, to the toxic care of hygiene and presentation of the bodies of the deceased.
Humusation provides on paper, it is true, a response to these problems with an unembalmed remains, simply wrapped in a biodegradable shroud, before returning to the compost.
Reversal in Belgium after inconclusive tests
With humusation, the remains are placed on a bed of compostable material such as shredded branches or leaves then covered with this same material until a mound is formed.
“In theory, after three months without intervention, the bare bones are recovered, crushed and reintegrated into the mound for maturation of the compost” specifies the Catholic University of Louvain.
A pioneer in this field, Belgium has launched two experiments with pig remains whose characteristics are quite similar to humans in terms of weight, size and physiology.
Tests revealed little decomposition of animal carcasses.
The analysis of the center of the mounds demonstrated insufficient hygienization, due to the influence of the outside temperature on the progress of composting.
And, under the mounds, quantities of ammonia up to 57 times higher than that of control soil were estimated to be likely to pollute waterways.
“Natural burial is not currently a viable alternative to cremation and traditional burial” concluded Adrien Dockx, Rémi Desmet and Philippe Baret, the authors of the report on the experiment.
Belgium therefore, at the beginning of 2024, reaffirmed the ban on humusation on its territory.
Terramation, aquamation and cryomation, abroad
In the United States, some states have legalized
Recompose
, which is close to humusation in concept, while moving away from it with a technological and unnatural process.
“The body is introduced into a large rotating metal cylinder equipped with a kneading hook, containing plant matter into which humid air at over 50°C is permanently injected” explains the Belgian foundation “Metamorphosis to die… then give life!
» editor of the Humusation.org website.
She estimates the cost of the operation between US$5,500 and US$7,900 depending on the state, or up to 3 times more expensive than the humusation she promotes.
Aquamation, whose scientific name is alkaline hydrolysis, is a possible option, particularly in Australia, Canada and certain states in the USA.
It consists of dissolving the corpse in water heated to more than 90°C, with carbonates, sodium and potassium.
The body's tissues disappear within a few hours, then the bones are crushed before being given to the families.
The process attracted attention following the death of Desmond Tutu, a South African Anglican archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner who chose this option for his funeral.
Finally, cryomation, also called promession, a term chosen by its Swedish inventor, consists of freezing bodies at very low temperature using liquid nitrogen, then reducing them to powder.
Whatever the chosen process, the purpose remains the same: a return to Earth, “for you are dust, and to dust you will return” (Genesis, 3:19)
(1) Dean Jean Carbonnier
(2) c.
civ.
art.
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