Joseph Brown is a fourth-generation deathcare provider and owner of the Joseph H. Brown, Jr Funeral Home in West Baltimore. He began doing fire cremations about 15 years ago.
“We’re still the only funeral home in Baltimore with a crematory on site,” he said with a sense of pride.
About 60% of Americans now choose a conventional fire cremation when they die, according to the latest numbers from the Cremation Association of North America.
But Brown is aware of the environmental impacts of that process.
On average, he said Joseph H. Brown, Jr Funeral Home only cremates one body a day to reduce air quality concerns from the neighborhood. He uses propane, which is a slightly cleaner greenhouse gas but on average, the Cremation Society of North America estimates that one fire cremation releases around 534 pounds of carbon dioxide in the air– roughly the equivalent of a 600 mile car trip. Brown points out, cremation is only getting more popular.
“Some pundits say that it's going to go up to 80% maybe in the next decade or so, and it probably is,” he says. “But if it's going to go in that direction, it has to get cleaner, greener, kinder and gentler.”
That’s why Brown decided to set up a facility for alkaline hydrolysis– or water cremation, a process advocates say is better for the environment.
It’s of particular interest to Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway, who is trying to stop the construction of a crematorium in his district. He has legislation that would ban them in dense residential and commercial zones.
“Baltimore has one of the highest asthma rates in the country,” he said, during a brief press conference before the tour of the facility. “And as we think about where we do fire cremations and where it is appropriate to do so, we want to be very considerate and very thoughtful about the impact on those communities.”
Brown has done one water cremation so far– meaning only one Marylander has been cremated this way.
“And we call this the spa side!”
Brown leads to what does look like a large, metal coffin.
“We place the body inside of this vessel,” Brown explained and pointed to the inside of the lid, which has spigots.
“We introduce chemicals and potassium hydroxide. We also introduce alcohol– ETOH– from biomass. What alcohol does is break down the lipids of the body,” he said.
Then, depending on body weight, the vessel is filled with anywhere from 25-30 gallons of water at a temperature between 140-160 degrees . The vessel rocks gently too, to keep the water and minerals moving. It takes about three hours.
At the end, there are skeletal remains that can be stored in an urn and given back to loved ones like in fire cremation.
But it’s not cheap: it’s $5000 compared to $1700 for the fire option. But the price could come down if demand goes up.
“A lot of people I've spoken with are very excited about it, never heard of it, and using water and chemicals is actually more of a gentle cremation versus the fire cremation,” said Crematory supervisor Antwon Holt. “ I think it would be very good for the communities and families to know that their families are being taken care of gently.”
Back at the funeral parlor Brown said there is still waste involved in the product of watery effluent but that effluent is sterile– there’s no detectable DNA or any other human signature when it goes into the municipal water system, according to Brown.
“I don't recommend drinking it, but it goes right out of the system, and it causes no harm,” said Brown. “And it's welcome at the wastewater treatment facility, because it will feed the bacteria that they use to break down what they receive at the wastewater treatment facility at Back River.”
