Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Saturday August 26 2017, @07:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the go-with-the-flow? dept.

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.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @11:14AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @11:14AM (#560156)
    How about a will that would start a fight between your sisters? ;)