Liquid Cremation
Aquagreen Dispositions LLC is one of the few companies that offers body disposal by alkaline hydrolysis. This involves using a highly alkaline solution to break down a corpse into its chemical components. The company argues it's an eco-friendly alternative to cremation. It refers to it as flameless or liquid cremation.
On its website, the company states that after the process is complete the remains "are returned to the family in the same manner as with flame cremation, however, the cremated remains are lighter in color because it is clean and without carbon discoloration."
What it doesn't mention is that this is only the skeletal remains, which have been ground up into a powder. The rest of the chemical soup gets flushed into the sewer system — and this is why the process remains controversial. From wikipedia:
More info: cbc.ca
On its website, the company states that after the process is complete the remains "are returned to the family in the same manner as with flame cremation, however, the cremated remains are lighter in color because it is clean and without carbon discoloration."
What it doesn't mention is that this is only the skeletal remains, which have been ground up into a powder. The rest of the chemical soup gets flushed into the sewer system — and this is why the process remains controversial. From wikipedia:
the Catholic Church in the United States does not approve of alkaline hydrolysis as a method of final disposal of human remains. In 2011, Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington and then chairman of the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), determined it "unnecessarily disrespectful of the human body." The Archdiocese of St. Louis explained that it was considered this way because the Church took concern with the final disposal of the liquid solution, which is typically to the sewer system. This was considered disrespectful of the sanctity of the human body. Additionally, when alkaline hydrolysis was proposed in New York state in 2012, the New York State Catholic Conference condemned the practice, stating that hydrolysis does not show sufficient respect for the teaching of the intrinsic dignity of the human body.
More info: cbc.ca
Comments
Pouring grandad down the drain and crushing his bones does sound a bit tacky but then again getting condemned by the Church usually gets you on historys hit parade somewhere down the line.
Posted by F.U.D in Stockholm on 08/19/23 at 06:19 AM
The least they could do is separate the liquid and give the soap to the heirs (lye + animal fat = soap).
The everyman way of handling it: get an old water heater (gas or electric, but gas requires more patching); cut off top; insert body; weld top back on; fill with water; add lye (about one pound per gallon of water); insert thermometer through one of the pipe connections; after temp stabilizes (adding lye to water is exothermic), with the heater on its side, pile charcoal against it; burn, tending the fire to bring the water/lye to just below boiling point; keep it at that temp for most of a day (at least fourteen hours). Drain; send heater, still sealed, to a scrap yard where they'll crush and chop it into little pieces.
Advantages: although it seems convoluted, it's a tiny fraction of the work of digging a grave six feet deep; far cheaper (no coffin, just a scrap water heater which you then sell for scrap); leaves no forensic evidence which can't be scientifically disputed in court.
The everyman way of handling it: get an old water heater (gas or electric, but gas requires more patching); cut off top; insert body; weld top back on; fill with water; add lye (about one pound per gallon of water); insert thermometer through one of the pipe connections; after temp stabilizes (adding lye to water is exothermic), with the heater on its side, pile charcoal against it; burn, tending the fire to bring the water/lye to just below boiling point; keep it at that temp for most of a day (at least fourteen hours). Drain; send heater, still sealed, to a scrap yard where they'll crush and chop it into little pieces.
Advantages: although it seems convoluted, it's a tiny fraction of the work of digging a grave six feet deep; far cheaper (no coffin, just a scrap water heater which you then sell for scrap); leaves no forensic evidence which can't be scientifically disputed in court.
Posted by Phideaux on 08/19/23 at 02:24 PM
I don't know, Phideaux; it seems like an awful lot of work when a bunch of pigs can take care of the remains without all that hassle AND provide tasty meat. Just ask Robert Pickton.
Posted by Yudith on 08/22/23 at 06:00 AM
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Category: Death