phyzzique

Forum Elite
Established Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2011
Messages
13,882
Location
The Netherworld
Choose Liquidation Over Cremation & Save the Environment Even In Death

Did you not know that cremation can result in nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen chloride (HCI), NMVOCS, other heavy metals, and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) being released into the atmosphere? To combat the environmental impact of cremation (not to mention traditional burial), Glasgow-based Resomation Ltd has installed its first commercial “alkaline hydrolysis” unit, called The Resomator, at a Florida funeral home which dissolves bodies instead of burning them.

The liquidation unit works by using heated alkaline water to dissolve bodies. Not only does the process produce a third less greenhouse gas emissions than cremation, but it also uses a seventh of the energy and allows for the complete separation of dental amalgam for safe disposal.

Why this important? Well, mercury that is burnt in cremation has been blamed for an astounding 16 percent of UK airborne mercury emissions. As a result, many crematoriums are installing filtration systems, but more can be done.

Speaking to BBC News, company founder Sandy Sullivan said: “Resomation was developed in response to the public’s increasing environmental concerns. It gives them that working third choice, which allows them to express those concerns in a very positive and I think personal way.”

It’s also quick. By placing the body in a solution of water and potassium hydroxide, which is pressurized to 10 atmospheres and heated to 180C, it can be dissolved in under three hours.

:wdaphack:There is a small catch. Once the tissue is all dissolved, the remaining liquid is poured into the municipal water system, which means you could potentially drink dead people. However, Mr. Sullivan is quick to point out that tests have proven that the waste is sterile and contains no DNA. It also has no impact on the environment.

Any fake limbs, bones or metal in the body can be removed from the unit and recycled or recovered for proper disposal. The machine is patented in Europe with patents pending in other countries.

So what do you think? In terms of green body disposal would you give it a go or do you still prefer the method of being frozen in liquid nitrogen and shattered? That’s how I’m planning on being disposed of.

Read more: Choose Liquidation Over Cremation & Save The Environment Even In Death | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
 
That's pretty neat. The liquifier a funeral home in Columbus, Ohio uses is normally used for disposing of dead farm animals. I looks like a stainless steel hot tub with a lid. It can process about five humans at a time. It works pretty much the same way though. It uses sodium hydroxide (lye) for an alkaline although potassium hydroxide would probably work too. Then they flush it down the city sewer.

The irony of these machines is that they work very much the same way as the human digestive tract which uses alkalies to break down the food we eat. I like the unit in your post. It kind of looks like the body is being launched out of a photon torpedo tube in a Star Trek movie.
 
Personally I would like to be cremated since I'm somewhat of a pyromaniac anyways. LOL. :hahahahha: The freeze drying method sounds intriguing.
 
I'd like to be cremated laying on top of a byre made of cute dead guys.........or entombed in a pyramid with hundreds of cute servants.

()()
('-')
(")(")
 
Being dissolved is creepy Still want my body buried at the battlefield or to lie in uniform at attention at a military cemetery with thousands of other dead soldiers buried in neat rows
 
I don't like the idea of it the waste water being put back into the city water system. We have sewerage Treatment plants here in the USA that they say you can drink the water coming out of them after the process but you never see anyone do it.

JJ
 
Being dissolved is creepy Still want my body buried at the battlefield or to lie in uniform at attention at a military cemetery with thousands of other dead soldiers buried in neat rows
Aye, I agree. Just reporting, not espousing:thinking:
 
Prefer cremation too
 
I wouldn't want to die at all, but if I had no choice, I'd rather be buried with my Brandon in a top notch mausoleum. Even, and especially if, he's still alive.
 
you have to be completely naked for this, I think except for clothes made of silk, wool or leather. I prefer cremation (with clothes) and scattering of my ashes.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top