A new green funeral: gross but green
Fair warning: This is pretty creepy.
What if, instead of burying or cremating dead bodies, we dissolved them in lye and flushed the liquid down the drain?
Well, my friend, get used to the idea: it could be the wave of the future. The process is called alkaline hydrolysis, and it uses lye and 300-degree heat, along with 60 pounds of pressure per square inch, to destroy bodies in huge cylinders that resemble iron lungs.
To date, no mortuaries use the process, and only two medical centers practice it, but only on cadavers donated to science. Although some places, including the Mayo Clinic, use it on human medical waste and animals.
Critics say the process is too much like a horror movie, but others contend that, when you're dead, you won't care how your body is disposed of.
The resulting liquid from the process has a strong ammonia smell and is unsightly, but isn't harmful to the environment like crematorium emissions and won't leech into the ground and into our water system like some resin-painted coffins and embalming fluids.
Creepy, yes...but an undeniably greener choice.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-12-2008 @ 4:21PM
Zchild said...
Could someone please explain how this is a more environmentally-friendly alternative to cremation? Has anyone actually calculated the kWh/Btu input requirements for one disposal method versus the other? This seems like a horribly stupid idea to me for a number of reasons. In my opinion, the most "green" methods of dead-body disposal would be 1) composting (which would require a very large, very hot compost pile), 2) cremation on a traditional pyre, or 3) utilizing a method to convert the body into biofuels (a technology which already exists). Alkaline hydrolysis seems like an absolutely ridiculous alternative, but hey, somebody prove me wrong.
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5-30-2008 @ 1:03AM
John said...
great, the eco-nazi's new crematorium. I hope I am long gone befere this Global warming craze comes to this.
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5-30-2008 @ 11:28PM
Karsten said...
John, that was meant to be insulting and you know it. No more reasonable arguments up your sleeve?
The Nazi's killed 6-8 million people who were different than what they thought should be standard. You are comparing that with the attempts of people who are concerned with the well-being of humanity and other living beings, who are fighting for human rights world-wide, who are concerned that human activities not only waste energy, food, and resources and deprive others of means for survival but also may change the climate to make survival possible for all humans.
You obviously have an agenda: Provoke. OK. Present it with reason and facts please. Unless you want us to assume you are in 8th grade. And reserve the word "Nazi" for those who cruelly and systematically mass-kill people for a personal gain or to maintain a life-style. If you truly believe environmentalists (of any shade) can be compared with this - you have lost it.
Karsten