The body of Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be aquamated, Very Rev Michael Weeder disclosed to local newsmen.
The Dean of St George’s Cathedral, the Very Reverend Michael Weeder, said it was what Archbishop Tutu ‘aspired to as an eco-warrior’.
He will be interred behind the pulpit at St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, where he served as an Anglican Archbishop for 35 years.
He died on Boxing Day aged 90. Before his death, the anti-apartheid campaigner had insisted there should be ‘no ostentatiousness or lavish spending’ on the ceremony.
Aquamated means, the ‘environmentally friendly’ process that involves heating the body in a mixture of potassium hydroxide and water for up to 90 minutes leaving only the bones.
These are then rinsed in the solution at 120C (248F), dried and pulverised into ashes.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s burial is expected to take place this weekend. It is not yet known whether his family will opt for a private or public ceremony.
He had insisted there should be “no ostentatiousness or lavish spending” on the ceremony and that he be given “the cheapest available coffin”, with the only flowers in the cathedral to be “a bouquet of carnations from his family”, according to the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.
What is Aquamation?
Aquamation, which uses water, is touted as a greener alternative to cremation, which uses fire. Practitioners say it cuts the amount of environmentally harmful carbon dioxide produced by up to 90%.
The technical name for the process is alkaline hydrolysis – and it involves weighing the body, then heating it to 150C (300F) in a mixture of potassium hydroxide and water for up to 90 minutes.
This dissolves the body tissue, leaving only the bones – which are then rinsed at 120C, dried, and pulverised into a coarse powder using a machine called a cremulator.
Once all these steps are complete, the remains can be buried or scattered in accordance with the deceased’s wishes – just as would happen in an ordinary cremation.