It's not an acid bath. It's an alkaline bath:
When it comes to putting loved ones in their final resting places, our choice has long been whether to bury a body or cremate it. But a third option has been gaining attention recently: Alkaline hydrolysis, which involves dissolving a body in a liquid solution. The process leaves behind bones that can be ground into ash using much less energy than cremation. Though it sounds a bit gruesome, the approach offers many benefits. "This by far is the most environmentally friendly choice" Dean Fisher, director of the Donated Body Program at UCLA told Wired.
[...] Having a body cremated may seem like a sustainable burial, but in most cases it's not great for the environment. In cremation, everything is burned into ash, including bone and medical implants. That can lead to the release of harmful pollutants. In the UK, for instance, cremation contributes to 16% of all mercury pollution. And as The Atlantic has reported, cremation takes about two SUV-tanks worth of gas to cremate a single body. Alkaline hydrolysis, on the other hand, requires only an eighth of that energy, Gizmodo reports.
Also at Here & Now (4:45 audio).
California: AB-967 Human remains disposal: alkaline hydrolysis: licensure and regulation.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 27 2017, @01:50AM (4 children)
You could do a sky burial. It's done mostly in Tibet today, and was formerly done in Iran before hostile muslims mostly wiped out the zoroastrians. Essentially, you let vultures eat the body.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial [wikipedia.org]
http://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/art-architecture/sky-burial-of-tibet-warning-viewer-discretion-is-advised.html [tsemrinpoche.com]
https://www.calebwilde.com/2014/06/tibetan-sky-burial-36-photos/ [calebwilde.com]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2376190/Chopped-fed-vultures-glimpse-closely-guarded-tradition-Tibetan-sky-funeral.html [dailymail.co.uk]
also on youtube
Then there is the more modern option. We make biodiesel. The leftover from that is fertilizer.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 27 2017, @02:23AM (2 children)
But think of the carbon footprint of driving/flying your dead refrigerated ass to Tibet!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Sunday August 27 2017, @05:13AM (1 child)
There should be carnivorous birds all over the world, not just in Tibet.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday August 27 2017, @08:55AM
Nevada, vultures.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 27 2017, @08:17AM
We could do this with piranhas, sharks or rats. Perfect solution.