Sternentier Pet Cremation - Aquamation
Sternentier Pet Cremation - Aquamation

The Aquamation – gentle & environmentally friendly

What is aquamation? Perhaps you have already heard of the terms alkaline hydrolysis, biocremation, resomation or water cremation. All of these describe the alternative possibility of cremating a pet in a water bath instead of burning it in an incinerator.

This is not a new process. Alkaline hydrolysis has been around since 1880, but unfortunately it is not yet approved for the cremation of pets in all countries. Currently unfortunately not in Germany.

In this type of cremation, your pet is individually placed in a large chamber with water and the water is heated to around 150° C. An alkali solution is then added to speed up the cremation process.

The combination of water, alkali solution, heat and pressure causes the tissues of the body to dissolve. Only the inorganic bone materials remain. Since there was no fire incineration, these remains are absolutely clean and very light in colour. The ashes of your pet do not contain any soot or carbon particles as with a cremation. The aquamation takes a little longer than a flame cremation, but you will still get the ashes back within 1-2 weeks.

According to the company Bio-Response Solution, one of the manufacturer of the systems for the aquamation of pets, this is the “green choice” of cremation. It is an energy efficient process that uses 90% less energy than cremation, 1/10 of the carbon footprint. There is also no burning of fossil fuels and no harmful greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. The pet incineration plants are currently all operated with gas, the water cremation would be electrically.

Especially in times of climate change and growing ecological awareness, as one of the first pet cremation services in Germany, we would like to offer you the aquamation as an alternative to flame cremation for your pet. We have been researching the procedure since 2019 and are trying to establish it as a type of pet cremation in Germany. Our previous inquiries to various specialist authorities like the LANUV, the state parliament, the federal parliament and the federal ministries in Brussels were rejected straight away. That is a shame.

Since the method of cremation of pets is specified in the EU regulation, it requires a fundamental change in the regulation. Officially applying for this is extremely expensive, time-consuming and is actually the task of the developer of the machines. It may still be years away, but we’re staying tuned!