Eco-friendly disposal

A system designed to dispose of municipal waste in a safe and eco-friendly manner may provide the answer to the problem plaguing the Parsi community regarding the disposal of its dead in a doctrinally acceptable manner.

Raptor researcher and expert Rishad Naoroji, who is on the advisory committee of the Towers of Silence, was informed by predatory birds expert Jemima Parry-Jones about the use of gasification, a system being worked on by two of her friends. Aware of the problems Parsis face because of lack of vultures, an interested Parry-Jones asked whether any flame was involved in the gasification method of waste disposal. When assured that no flame comes in contact with the body, she got in touch with Naoroji and requested him to pursue the matter further with the experts, Stuart E. Forrest and Robert Krause, president and chief executive officer respectively of the firm Senreq LLC (Sustainable Energy Recovery and Environmental Quality), based in Oakbrook, Illinois, USA, which Naoroji did. He later forwarded the entire e-mail correspondence to Parsiana.

Forrest responded to Naoroji’s e-mail thus: "I am aware of the ‘vulture situation’ and we do need to quickly make everyone understand two things: using or trying to reintroduce vultures… will not and cannot work, and there is another solution that will not defile the natural elements — air, water and fire — nor present any social or cultural objections. In fact, it should work quite well with the Towers of Silence as I currently understand it.”

Earlier, Krause had written to Forrest: "Your query regarding the utilization of gasification in India as a safe, effective method for dealing with human remains without violating religious doctrine is interesting. Gasification is already being used for animal remains in the US and Canada where there is no social prohibition… Technologically, gasification appears consistent with the prevailing religious tenets while being an environmentally sound and health conscious alternative.”

Gasification releases the water content of the body (the most significant portion) as water vapor, the fat and protein content (the next largest) as carbon oxides and the trace minerals (mostly calcium) remain, which can be handled in a number of ways. Human corpses too can be disposed of using this system, sans flame, odor or air pollution. Forrest explains how it would work: The body is brought to the center for disposal. Three to six bodies are placed on special cradles which are then moved into the Senreq unit. The bodies are reduced to skeletal remains which could be passed through a roller-mill to turn them into dust or ash which can be disposed of in a suitable manner. There would be a charge for the cradle and the disposal process itself. Costs for installing and using this system at Doongerwadi would have to be worked out.

More detailed information is available on the website www.senreq.com