The Environmental Impact of Activities After Life: Life Cycle Assessment of Funerals

electronic supplementary material

LCA of waste management systems

The environmental impact of activities after life: life cycle assessment of funerals

Elisabeth Keijzer1

Received: 23 August 2015 / Accepted: 28 July 2016

Responsible editor: Adriana Del Borghi

1TNO, Post box 80015, 3508TA Utrecht, The Netherlands

 Elisabeth Keijzer

Supplementary material to “The environmental impact of activities after life: Life Cycle Assessment of funerals” by E.E. Keijzer

Table S1Recycling values as used for modelling in SimaPro. “NCMS 2010” refers to the values on the website: Secondary smelting of non-ferrous metals. Impact, risks, and regulations. (Accessed 30 November 2010)

Material / Outputs: avoided products / Amount (kg) / Inputs / Amount (kg) / Remarks/Source
Chrome / Chromium, at regional storage/RER / 0.72 / Nickel, secondary, from electronic and electric scrap recycling, at refinery/SE / 0.8 / Nickel inputs as proxy. Secondary fraction: 20% (NCMS 2010); modelled as 0.2 kg Iron scrap, at plant/RER.
Cobalt / Cobalt, at plant/GLO / 0.612 / Nickel, secondary, from electronic and electric scrap recycling, at refinery/SE / 0.68 / Nickel inputs as proxy. Secondary fraction: 32% (NCMS 2010); modelled as 0.32 kg Iron scrap, at plant/RER.
Gold / Gold, primary, at refinery/GLO / 0.639 / Gold, secondary, at precious metal refinery/SE / 0.71 / Secondary fraction: 29% (NCMS 2010); modelled as 0.29 kg Iron scrap, at plant/RER.
Palladium / Palladium, at regional storage/RER / 0.639 / Palladium, secondary, at refinery/RER U / 0.71 / By lack of palladium recycling data, gold amounts are used as proxy.
Platinum / Platinum, at regional storage/RER / 0.756 / Platinum, secondary, at refinery/RER / 0.84 / Secondary fraction: 16% (NCMS 2010); modelled as 0.16 kg Iron scrap, at plant/RER.
Silver / Silver, at regional storage/RE / 0.639 / Silver, secondary, at precious metal refinery/SE. / 0.71 / By lack of silver recycling data, gold amounts are used as proxy.
Stainless steel / Steel, converter, chromium steel 18/8, at plant/RER / 0.567 / Steel, electric, chromium steel 18/8, at plant/RER / 0.63 / Secondary fraction: 37% according to Ecoinvent; modelled as 0.37 kg Iron scrap, at plant/RER
Steel / Steel, converter, unalloyed, at plant/RER / 0.567 / Steel, electric, un- and low-alloyed, at plant/RER / 0.63 / Secondary fraction: 37% according to Ecoinvent; modelled as 0.37 kg Iron scrap, at plant/RER.
Titanium / Titanium / 0.61 / Aluminium, secondary, from old scrap, at plant/RER / 0.678 / Titanium is absent in Ecoinvent; therefore titanium record copied from IDEMAT database.
Zinc / Zinc, primary, at regional storage/RER / 0.657 / Lead, secondary, at plant/RER / 0.73 / Secondary lead as proxy; Secondary fraction: 27% (NCMS 2010); modelled as 0.37 kg Iron scrap, at plant/RER.

Table S2Composition of the average buried body and composition of cremation ashes. Body composition is based on Forbes (1987), Slooff et al. (2004) & Axelrad et al. (2009), as explained in the text. Cremation ash is composed as described by Smit (1996); this table shows the median value of the composition from warm start oven samples after milling. One adaptation is made to Smit (1996); Smit (1996) added 2.47 gram of mercury to the measurements, while Molenaar et al. (2009) report that an average cremation contains only 1.5 gram of mercury; the final ash composition is corrected for this amount, resulting in 0,456 mg per cremation (rounded off to 0,00 g/cremation in the table below)

Element / Buried body composition (grams) / Cremation ashes composition (grams)
Al / 0.06 / 35
As / 0 / 0.01
Au / <0.01 / 0.44
Ba / 0.02 / 1.6
Be / <0.0001
Bo / <0.05
Br / 0.2
Cd / 0.05 / 0.00
Co / <0.01 / 0.04
Cr / <0.01 / 0.40
Cs / <0.01
Cu / 0.07 / 8.8
Fe / 4.2
I / 0.01
Mn / 0.01 / 7.3
Mo / <0.01 / 0.03
Ni / 0.01 / 1.8
Pb / 0.12 / 0.06
Ra / <0.0001
Sb / 0 / 0.03
Se / 0 / 0.00
Si / 18
Sn / <0.02 / 0.29
Sr / 0.32
Te / 0 / 0.00
U / <0.0001
V / 0 / 0.20
Zn / 2.3 / 2.7
Hg / 0.00041 / 0.0
PCBs / 0.000636
C / 16000
Ca / 1100
Cl / 95 / 11
Fl / 2.6 / 0.02
H / 1944
K / 140
Mg / 19
N / 1800 / 13
Na / 100
O / 2556
P / 500 / 2910
Phosphates / 0.14
S / 140 / 7.2
Total dry weight(kg) / 24.4 / 3.0

Table S3 Non-human materials in the body of 1 average deceased person in The Netherlands. “p.c.” means personal communication

Material / Amount / Unit / Source & remarks
Cobalt chrome / 0.533 / kg / Orthometals, p.c. 2010
Stainless steel / 0.867 / kg / Orthometals, p.c. 2010. Part of this steel is prostheses and another part is from coffin handles; assumed 50-50%. Modelled as 63% primary (Steel, converter, chromium steel 18/8, at plant/RER) and 37% secondary (Steel, electric, chromium steel 18/8, at plant/RER)
Titanium / 0.800 / kg / (Orthometals, p.c. 2010). Titanium is absent in Ecoinvent; therefore the titanium record was copied from the IDEMAT database.
Iron scrap / 1.333 / kg / Orthometals, p.c. 2010
Zinc / 0.467 / kg / Orthometals, p.c. 2010; these are ornaments
Gold / 0.283 / g / Morren 2010
Silver / 0.124 / g / Morren 2010
Platinum / 0.017 / g / Morren 2010
Palladium / 0.101 / g / Morren 2010
Methyl methacrylate / 36 / g / Dentures; amount estimated by expert. Worn by 50% of the deceased (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek 2003), thus about 18 grams per average deceased person
Mercury / 1.5 / g / Dental fillings (Molenaar et al 2009)
Cotton / 0.8 / kg / Clothing; amount estimated based on internet searches
Viscose / 0.15 / kg / Clothing; amount estimated based on internet searches
Leather / 0.36 / m2 / Shoes (RemmerswaalHeuvel 2005); if mass was needed instead of area, this was estimated to be 1.5 kg

Table S4 K values (leaching percentage) as applied in the landfilling model

Element/ substance / K value / Source/Remarks
Cl / 96.55% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
SO4 / 34.62% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
PO4 / 34.62% / Based on SO4, Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
As / 0.17% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
Cd / 0.05% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
Cr / 0.08% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
Cu / 0.14% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
Hg / 0.50% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
Ni / 0.12% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
Pb / 0.05% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
Zn / 0.02% / Eggelsand Ven 2000, Table D3
Na / 2.00% / Standard value in the landfilling model developed by Eggelsand Ven.
Ba / 0.00% / Standard value in the landfilling model developed by Eggelsand Ven.
Fe / 0.50% / Standard value in the landfilling model developed by Eggelsand Ven.
Mn / 0.00% / Standard value in the landfilling model developed by Eggelsand Ven.
Sb / 0.00% / Standard value in the landfilling model developed by Eggelsand Ven.
Se / 0.00% / Standard value in the landfilling model developed by Eggelsand Ven.
Heavy metals / 1% / Standard value in the landfilling model developed by Eggelsand Ven.

Table S5Characterized results of the sensitivity analysis of minimum and maximum scenarios of burial and cremation of 1 average deceased person in the Netherlands. In the burial scenarios the length of the grave rest period and its associated processes is varied. In the cremation scenarios the gas consumption is varied. The abbreviations of the impact categories are explained in Table 1

Impact category / Unit / Burial minimum scenario / Burial average scenario / Burial maximum scenario / Cremation minimum scenario / Cremation average scenario / Cremation maximum scenario
CC / kg CO2eq / 9.83E+01 / 9.69E+01 / 1.10E+02 / 1.02E+02 / 1.86E+02 / 2.46E+02
ODP / kg CFC-11 / 9.19E-06 / 9.73E-06 / 1.10E-05 / 1.02E-05 / 2.22E-05 / 3.09E-05
HTP / kg 1,4-DB eq / 4.04E-01 / -2.65E-01 / 3.68E+00 / -5.36E+01 / -5.31E+01 / -5.27E+01
POCP / kg NMVOC / 8.76E-01 / 6.87E-01 / 1.67E+00 / 1.55E+00 / 1.63E+00 / 1.69E+00
PM / kg PM10eq / 2.69E-01 / 2.66E-01 / 2.96E-01 / 3.43E-01 / 3.63E-01 / 3.77E-01
IR / kg 235U eq / 1.63E+01 / 1.64E+01 / 1.68E+01 / 1.43E+01 / 1.52E+01 / 1.58E+01
AP / kg SO2eq / 7.19E-01 / 7.14E-01 / 7.85E-01 / 8.34E-01 / 8.95E-01 / 9.38E-01
FEP / kg P eq / 1.74E-01 / 1.74E-01 / 1.74E-01 / 1.90E-01 / 1.90E-01 / 1.90E-01
MEP / kg N eq / 2.66E-01 / 2.57E-01 / 3.09E-01 / 5.15E-01 / 5.36E-01 / 5.50E-01
TETP / kg 1,4-DB eq / 1.63E-01 / 1.61E-01 / 1.74E-01 / 1.85E-01 / 1.86E-01 / 1.87E-01
FAETP / kg 1,4-DB eq / 4.54E-01 / 4.51E-01 / 4.82E-01 / -1.11E-01 / -1.03E-01 / -9.79E-02
MAETP / kg 1,4-DB eq / 2.38E-01 / 2.37E-01 / 2.57E-01 / 1.60E+00 / 1.62E+00 / 1.64E+00
ALO / m2a / 1.02E+02 / 1.01E+02 / 1.05E+02 / 1.03E+02 / 1.03E+02 / 1.03E+02
ULO / m2a / 1.02E+02 / 2.75E+02 / 5.02E+02 / 3.68E+00 / 3.72E+00 / 3.74E+00
NLT / m2 / 3.07E-02 / 3.21E-02 / 3.79E-02 / 2.53E-02 / 4.40E-02 / 5.73E-02
WD / m3 / 1.06E+01 / 1.06E+01 / 1.06E+01 / 1.04E+01 / 1.04E+01 / 1.04E+01
MD / kg Fe eq / 5.04E+00 / 4.97E+00 / 5.45E+00 / 5.00E+00 / 5.30E+00 / 5.51E+00
FD / kg oil eq / 2.53E+01 / 2.66E+01 / 3.04E+01 / 3.34E+01 / 6.82E+01 / 9.31E+01

Fig. S1 Sensitivity analysis; comparison of the aggregated environmental impacts of burial and cremation of 1 average deceased person in the Netherlands with two variants of lining in the coffin: cotton (conventional scenario, left) and jute (alternative scenario, right)