24
No. 104 – WINTER 2023 | THANOS MAGAZINE
SUSTAINABILITY
SUSTAINABILITY
AND THE USE OF FORMALDEHYDE
By Craig L. Caldwell, Mazwell Group, UK
very day we hear about sustainability
and how we should do our part to
protect the world we live in so those
we love will have the same world as
part of their future. Rarely though is
sustainability discussed about in how
it affects us in our daily lives. What can
we do in our own funeral homes to
make a difference, any amount of
difference.
It’s important for us to talk about
Sustainability in the context of
what we as Funeral professionals
know
and
understand
so
I
am speaking about it in the
world of formaldehyde and
embalming.
Let’s
first
understand
what
is
sustainability. It is the
ability
to
maintain
and support a process
continually
overt
time. In the context
of Business or Policy
it seeks to prevent the
depletion
of
natural
or physical resources so
they remain available for the
long(er) term. In essence this is what
the European Union Biocides Regulation we are
all concerned with is supposed to be all about.
Sustainability at its very core is for our own
individual benefit.
In order for Sustainability to be effective, there
are 3 Components or Pillars that must work
together in a harmonious way although not
always equally or at the same time. In fact, if
you look at your own business structure, they
are fairly similar. The 3 components are People/
Society, Profit/Economy, and Environment/
Planet. If you look at the area where all 3 areas
overlap, there is a small triangular arcing section
that represents Sustainability.
The issues we are faced with that determine
success are the variables. We have been facing
them from the past to the present and most likely
will be to the future! The Planet/Environment
for the purpose of discussion, has little variation,
other than that it is affected by changes in
its own environs by what goes on within it as
a result of the actions of the other two entities.
Profit/Economy is a result of the actions
of Society and the more profit, the
greater effect on the environment
– sometimes for the better but
most often not. Society/People is
the greatest of the variables and
has the largest affect as to what
degree it wants to control the
end result of the discussion.
By use of incomplete but
not untruthful facts and
figures, a misconception
can be created in the
minds of many and sway
them into believing that
something is bad when
the opposite may be the
case – if the whole story
was told.
Several years ago, an article
in a news magazine highlighted this
example perfectly. The article revolved around
the fact that there was a cemetery located high
above a city and below the cemetery was located
an aquifer which supplied the city with much of
its water supply. A local journalist had decided to
write an article about the potential damage for
devastating pollution to the aquifer caused by the
formaldehyde from the buried deceased leaking
from the coffins and rolling down the hillside into
the aquifer. With the help of a local University,
the journalist calculated based on 3.5 gallons of
formaldehyde per deceased that approximately
865,000 gallons would flow down the hillside. This
figure no doubt caught the attention of everyone
in the city as one would expect.
PROFIT
PEOPLE
ENVIRONMENT