Singapore pet owners have an opportunity to meet a new way to dispose of dead pets. The aquamation is innovation, in fact.
The owners will not only be able to put the ground-up bones of their pets in a traditional urn or scatter the ashes at sea, but they will also be able to use the watery remains to craft paintings of their pets, or even use the effluent water as fertilizer to grow commemorative plants.
Aquamation produces 20% more ash than flame-based cremation, Joe Kam, an animal welfare expert and former executive with charity Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES) said.
Over five years, Singapore’s pet population has exploded to 900,000 and with a mortality rate of about 12%. Thus, Kim reckons he’ll be able to process about 950 pets in his first year of operations.
Aquamation in Singapore
Alkaline hydrolysis, an aquamation, is the scientifically inclined process that mimics the natural decomposition that occurs after death — only sped up, so it takes hours rather than months.
Using a heated solution of water and alkaline salts, aquamation dissolves the corpse rather than the traditional methods of burning or burial, leaving only the bones and a watery mush.
Aquamation is a death tech that’s kind to the planet, using only a fraction of the carbon footprint of all other methods of body disposal, according to studies.
“The pandemic has made people more conscious of the fragility of nature, and I think more folks are looking for a kinder, more environmentally-friendly way to send off their furry family members,” Kam reiterates.
Aquamation equipment, which includes a large stainless steel tank in which to dunk the bodies, can cost northwards of about US$260,000. The technology is not without controversy, and Kam admits that it may take a while for the idea of dissolving bodies to catch on.
