The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to increase the use of eco-friendly pyre cremation systems in crematoriums. The civic body will also use eco-friendly briquettes or pellets instead of wood, which will reduce its use and also the pollution caused by wood burning. “We have decided to reduce the use of wood at crematoriums. At Sion, we have been using eco-friendly pyres for the last four years. Now we have decided to extend this technology to nine crematoriums,” a BMC official said.

Explaining how the technology reduces the use of the wood, the official said a closed combustion chamber is used which reduces the wood requirement per cremation. “Usually 350-400 kg of wood is required for a cremation, but using the chamber, only 100-125 kg is needed,” the official added. While the system is based on eco-friendly and scientific methods, the structure has been designed considering religious rituals that need to be performed. Also, the time taken from cremation is reduced from 4 hours using traditional methods to about  1-2 hours.