Ashes to ashes - people to trees

Jonkoping, in Sweden plans to become the first place where corpses will be disposed of by freeze-drying, as an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial.

Swedes will have the chance to bury their dead using a new method, which involves freezing the body by dipping it in liquid nitrogen and gently vibrating it to shatter it into powder. This is put into a small box made of potato or corn starch and placed in a shallow grave, where it will disintegrate within six to 12 months.

People are to be encouraged to plant a tree on the grave. It would feed off the compost formed from the body, to emphasise the organic cycle of life.