Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Dissolving the dead (A radical alternative to burial and cremation)
BBC News ^ | May 22, 2017 | William Kremer - BBC World Hacks

Posted on 05/22/2017 12:58:21 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki

For decades, most people arranging a funeral have faced a simple choice - burial or cremation?

But in parts of the US and Canada a third option is now available - dissolving bodies in an alkaline solution. It will arrive in the UK soon.

Its technical name is alkaline hydrolysis, but it is being marketed as “green cremation”.

So long, Robert Klink

Robert J Klink spent his life near water.

When he was growing up in the 1950s, his parents had a cabin on South Long Lake, in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. He learned to fish and hunt near the water’s edge.

It became a lifelong passion, and for many years he and his second wife Judi Olmsted kept a couple of cabin cruisers on the Saint Croix River. Bob would fish and shoot ducks, which he prepared and ate by himself.

Shortly before Bob’s death in March from colon and liver cancer, Olmsted approached her local funeral home, Bradshaw Celebration of Life Center in Stillwater.

She told the people there that her husband wanted to be cremated when his time came.

She was surprised to learn that Bradshaw’s offered two types of cremation: the one that everyone knows about, involving fire, and a new kind, which uses water.

A pamphlet explained that this “gentle, eco-friendly alternative to flame-based cremation” used an alkaline solution made with potassium hydroxide to reduce the body to a skeleton.

“At first, I was thinking, ‘Well, I don’t know about that,’” Olmsted says.

But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that it was the best way to go.”

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: alkalinehydrolysis; burial; cremation; funeralhome; soylentgreen
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-74 next last
To: Ciaphas Cain

;>)


21 posted on 05/22/2017 2:37:35 AM PDT by Covenantor (Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

THe precusor to Soylent Green?


22 posted on 05/22/2017 2:38:14 AM PDT by plangent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki
A pamphlet explained that this “gentle, eco-friendly alternative to flame-based cremation” used an alkaline solution made with potassium hydroxide to reduce the body to a skeleton.

OK, then what do you do with the skeleton? Take it home to Fido to make dog treats for him or just hang it in the closet and take it out for Halloween.

23 posted on 05/22/2017 2:38:33 AM PDT by eartick (Been to the line in the sand and liked it, but ready to go again)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

I love shooting holes in Liberals and their “eco-friendly” BS ideas. What happens to the skeleton? Does it get buried in a coffin the morticians sell you (after you paid for the hydrolysis)? Or cremated? Or donated to a medical school?

As for me, I’ve decided on burial at sea. Then, I can feed the fish.


24 posted on 05/22/2017 3:00:58 AM PDT by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

With all of that caustic material, I cannot imagine that this method is more environmentally friendly than cremation.
What is the pH of the remains once they have been liquefied? Won’t the liquid need to be neutralized prior to disposal down the drain?


25 posted on 05/22/2017 3:32:10 AM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NTHockey

I prefer cremation, and my ashes scattered to the sea. The Bible says ‘dust to dust and ashes to ashes’. I don’t know how chemicals and being dissolved would fit into that scripture? Seems the use of those chemicals would be more dangerous, than cancer caused by Monsanto roundup. Just sayin...

However, the family must follow instructions of the deceased, and some cremation requests have ended up in barrels of dissolving chemicals, which means installing the body into such a container, and it sounds like a disgusting thing to me. Because in cremation the body is at more than enough temperature to take care of the bones. The body used to be wrapped in cloth and laid on table, and then the table went into the crematory to the fire! Civilized, not barbaric.


26 posted on 05/22/2017 4:03:43 AM PDT by Ambrosia ('If it walks like a duck, quakes like a duck...., unless it's an imposter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

They keep missing a fourth choice. Charleton Heston starred in a movie about it. The money quote from the movie was, “Soylent green is people.”


27 posted on 05/22/2017 4:07:22 AM PDT by stevem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reg45

My father-in-law was dead set against cremating because he said it was pagan, and when the second coming occurred you would have a problem being restored. Well the origins are pagan as far back as we can determine. As for the restoration of the atoms in the body at the second coming I really don’t know if that’s even talked about in depth among various scriptures. After hearing those comments by my father-in-law I sat there in contemplation... what about people in war who are blown to bits, are they not going to be restored after the second coming? And what about people that are buried at Sea and then eaten by crabs and then crapped all over the ocean floor? Are they not going to be restored after the second coming? So I finally came to the conclusion that it really doesn’t matter because we do not know enough about the great mystery that will unfold at some point in time only the Lord knows when; not even the angels know... so it’s beyond our comprehension. And I strongly feel that whatever happens to your body will probably not matter because it just won’t be an issue. I sometimes think that people just want a stone to go visit for year or two and then the stones languish un-visited until, over time... it erodes to sand and id washed away. Earth Abides, as it was made to do so.


28 posted on 05/22/2017 4:11:15 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (Hot sauce aside, every culture has its pancake, just as every culture has its noodle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: shibumi
ashes to ashes
29 posted on 05/22/2017 4:19:15 AM PDT by Chode (My job is not to represent the world. My job is to represent the United States of America-#45 DJT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Covenantor

“This person was just so disgusted by it, didn’t even want to have the conversation,” she recalls, “and the other person was like, ‘For me, that’s like a final spa treatment.’

or...

WE’RE DRINKING IN PEOPLE!!!

(Shamelessly nicked, and modified from Soylant Green)


30 posted on 05/22/2017 4:20:13 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (Hot sauce aside, every culture has its pancake, just as every culture has its noodle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar; All

“alkaline hydrolysis is also called base catylized hydrolysis, or making soap”

You know... artisan soaps sell quite well at flea markets and roadside vegetable markets.


31 posted on 05/22/2017 4:23:43 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (Hot sauce aside, every culture has its pancake, just as every culture has its noodle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

Dissolve your loved one and flush him down the sewer. Seems inappropriate.


32 posted on 05/22/2017 4:25:49 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (The first step in ending the War on White People, is to recognize it exists.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

Not that it matters unless one believes in literal physical resurrection, but Sky Burial, wrapped in blankets and placed on a secluded platform in a forest, surrounded by some special personal effects, to let nature take back what it gave, is the way I’d like my own soul conveyance to be disposed of once I’m done with it. Locked up and buried in a ridiculously expensive box, or uselessly incinerated to base carbon, much less dissolved into a goo, just don’t appeal.


33 posted on 05/22/2017 4:43:25 AM PDT by katana (It still hasn't occurred to them that Trump doesn't give a s***)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clutch Martin

Having just gone through this with my MIL.......

The Catholic Church, Jewish faith and Muslim have either doctrine or hard and fast rules against cremation......

The Catholic Curch recently relaxed the rule (not doctrine-which was implemented in the 1800’s) regarding cremation allowing it.....

However, the Catholic church does require that the ashes be treated the same as a whole body, not to be spread, on a mantle or made into jewelry...

The remains should receive a full funeral mass and then be buried or entombed on consecrated ground.....

I would imagine that dissolving the body would not be approved as acceptable.....


34 posted on 05/22/2017 4:48:14 AM PDT by nevergore
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

Just don’t do it in your upstairs bathtub


35 posted on 05/22/2017 4:57:54 AM PDT by dsrtsage (One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: dsrtsage

My father wanted to be stuffed and set on the couch with a remote in his hand. The mortuary wouldn’t do it.


36 posted on 05/22/2017 5:04:11 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz ("“In America, we don’t worship government, we worship God.”" DJT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: dsrtsage

You really need a suitable receptacle.


37 posted on 05/22/2017 5:09:05 AM PDT by SoothingDave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: NTHockey
What happens to the skeleton? Does it get buried in a coffin the morticians sell you (after you paid for the hydrolysis)? Or cremated?

For those who didn't read the article, the bones are pulverized and transmitted to the bereaved as the ashes would from a traditional cremation.

38 posted on 05/22/2017 5:10:38 AM PDT by SoothingDave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: sukhoi-30mki

The Family’s been doing this for as long as sulfuric acid has been available in 55 gallon drums. New Jersey’s the leading state.


39 posted on 05/22/2017 5:15:58 AM PDT by VietVet876
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clutch Martin; SpaceBar
You know... artisan soaps sell quite well at flea markets and roadside vegetable markets.

Exactly! It could be a lucrative option for the funeral parlor! Convert your deceased loved one into a bio-friendly product!

The marketing ideas just write themselves!

40 posted on 05/22/2017 5:20:48 AM PDT by COBOL2Java ("Game over, man, game over!" (my advice to DemocRATs and Vichy Republicans))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-74 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson