A new way to go
Have you ever wondered if there is a greener way to leave this earth?
Australian company, Aquamation Industries, has come up with a method that is environmentally sound, compared to the 200 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions created by cremation.
According to the chief executive, John Humphries, alkaline hydrolysis replicates the way animals return to nature if buried without a coffin in the soil, eliminating pollution altogether.
“The same process is occurring here except that we put [the body] into a six-foot cylinder, we put the water in there, we’ve got a pump that swirls the water around,” he told ABC News online.
“We heat the water up – we don’t boil it – and we raise the pH level, so what would occur in nature in six months occurs in four hours.”
The process is said to incur similar costs to cremation and loved ones are still presented with ashes.
“It totally eliminates pollution. It only uses about 5-10% of the energy [used by cremation],” he said in the report.
“But instead of going into an incinerator, [the body] will go into a stainless steel tube of water.”
Mr Humphries went on to explain how alkaline hydrolysis was discovered in America by scientists looking to destroy mad cow disease. The process has since become standard for diseased animals but not for humans.
“When cows die of mad cow disease, burning the bodies would not kill the disease,” he said.
“The scientists found the only way to kill the disease is nature, with alkaline hydrolysis.”
Warwick Hansen, vice-president of the Australian Funeral Directors Association, says the industry is open to new technologies, especially environmentally friendly ones.
