You Can Now Liquefy Your Body for a ‘Greener’ Burial
- Posted on August 31, 2011 at 5:48pm by
Liz Klimas
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Apparently cremation isn’t as green as we thought it could be. So now starts the rise of a new-ish technique that has a scarier name: liquefaction.
A funeral home in Florida, according to the BBC, recently became the recipient of the first commercial Resomator — an “alkaline hydrolysis” unit built by the Scottish company Resomation Ltd. — after the state legislature approved the technology that allowed liquefaction of dead bodies. Florida is one of seven states in the country that allow this technology.
A look inside the Resomator.
Compared to cremation, which uses flame, liquefaction uses a machine built by Resomation Ltd., and reduces the body to ash using heated alkaline water (a mixture of water and corrosive potassium hydroxide). Both processes take about the same amount of time. According to BBC, this liquefaction process could be a “greener” alternative to cremation:
The makers claim the process produces a third less greenhouse gas than cremation, uses a seventh of the energy, and allows for the complete separation of dental amalgam for safe disposal.
Mercury from amalgam vaporised in crematoria is blamed for up to 16 percent of UK airborne mercury emissions, and many UK crematoria are currently fitting mercury filtration systems to meet reduced emission targets.
Watch Sandy Sullivan, the founder of Resomation in the United Kingdom, explain how it works (no graphic images, but still creepy):
The audience interested in liquefaction will probably be the same as those who would have opted for cremation over a traditional casket burial. According to an article written last year by the Scripps Howard News Service, the Cremation Association of North America said those interested in cremation like it because “it costs less, it suits a more mobile society and it’s considered more environmentally friendly, to name a few.” The association also predicts that by 2025, 60 percent of bodies will be cremated.
If the technology for machines like the Resamator gets approved in more states, alkaline hydrolysis may take cremation’s place as the “green” option for bodies. In fact, Resomation was the recipient of a 2010 Observer Ethical Award for the carbon reduction benefits of the process.
[H/T Popular Science]
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Comments (127)
NOMOBIGDRAMANOBAMA
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:30pmHe is concerned about mercury in the environment? Do they have to use those new light bulbs too?
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 7:18pmHurry, first million liberals are free!
Report Post »the hawk
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 2:52amHow about feeding those hungry bugs ? mAN WE KILL THEM OVER AND OVER WHILE WERE ALIVE………wHY NOT GIVE A LITTLE BACK AND FEED THEM WHEN WERE DEAD !
Report Post »mikem1969
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 7:05amDoes anyone remember the movie soilent green? Guess what the libs and progressives want to turn their enemies into.
Report Post »texasfarmer
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:30pmCrematoria is blamed for up to 16 percent of UK airborne mercury emissions. 16 percent? Find that really hard to swallow.
Report Post »crazedbanshee
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:40pmIf it is true, it just goes to show how low emissions really are on elements such as mercury and how ridiculously blown out of proportion it is.
Report Post »Attention2Detail
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 7:05pmSo, in my mouth the mercury is OK, but disipated into the huge atmosphere it will kill me. Environmental science is sooooooo complicated (and stupid).
Report Post »sndrman
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 7:30pmsince when do facts get in the way of the feel good liberals facts are just outright annoyance. it’s all about feelings
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 11:28pmThe stats on British mercury levels are NOT from British people being cremated and I have the proof.
Report Post »By the time Brits die they don’t have any teeth left!
dpmeek71
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 9:55amI’m with you. I don’t think 16% of the UK has ever seen the Dentist much less gotten Mercury fillings.
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:28pmSounds like a convenient way to make people disappear without a trace…won’t even be able to be identified by dental remains. Pretty freaky stuff.
Report Post »Favored93
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 12:14amI was thinking the same thing!!!
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:25pmSoylent Green, eh? kool
Report Post »Leader1776
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 7:29pmSoylent Green-goo
Report Post »shirelover
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 7:58pmthat was my first thought too…ewww
Report Post »snakeyes4liberty
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 11:24pmJuicing Gone Wild!!!!
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 11:32pmDo we get to keep our ” Resomator’d” relatives in a jar on the fireplace mantel? Easier to claen up ashes than, well…. liquified Uncle Fred.
Report Post »deano24
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 11:39pmI knew it wouldn’t take long for somebody to make a soylent green comment. You would think torchwood: miracle day would choose this method instead the oven modules
Report Post »fertlmind
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:24pmJust in time for Obamma care.
Report Post »A person in their 70‘s with cancer isn’t economical to treat so it‘s a off to the ’LIBERALIZER”
with you!
You get liquified in an ecological manner,..and.the government doesn’t have to pay for your healthcare or social security!
Everybody wins!!!
I‘m sure there will be liberal ’For The Good of society’ exemptions for union Fat Cats, Community Organizers Socialist/Commie/lLeftist new world order type leaders like Trumka, Soros, and Obamma!
hudent
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:23pmwhat about the old dentures,do we have to remove them from the dead,I wouldn’t want to keep that crap…..OOOOOOOOOO
Report Post »Lindsey.gilbert529
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:20pmUmm… no. Watch out, kiddos, this’ll be law before we know it.
Report Post »Zoe
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:36pmWhy aren’t you watching the other hand?
http://funeral.cc/Florida_Cremation_Society_Burial_By_Funeral_Homes.pdf
Report Post »Tyler520
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:17pmIf Lefty enviromentalists sincerely practiced what they preach, they’d all go pull a Jim Jones right about now
Report Post »The Gooch
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:16pmSo after reconciling with his long, lost brother, Dr. Evil went into the funeral business? I always wondered what happended to that guy…..
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:12pm“And remove any medical implants and fillings from the ash”
lol, in my case their might be more fillings than ash!
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:11pmuk morgs are fitting apparatus to remove the mercury from the exhaust of incineration the mercury comes from dental work
wouldnt it be far cheaper to just pull the dental work out before your incinerate the body ???
Report Post »RA0725
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:22pmThe Nazis did it.
Report Post »NC
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:09pmOn a different topic but akin to death, suicide switches should be available in all the federal prisons.
What a savings of the taxpayers dollar this would be be. You could even call it the Timothy McVeigh option. Details could be determined by a senate committee, a house committee, and numerous federal court challenges.
NC
Report Post »Scaredfuzz
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:06pmYeah cause highly corrosive alkaline solutions aren’t a problem to clean up or dispose of at all. Seriously, when I taught chemistry labs back in college, it cost thousands of dollar to properly dispose of chemicals wastes, and if you had a spill corrosive materials are way more dangerous than CO2. How far is this idiocy of global warming going to go? They are trading something relatively benign (unless you fill a room full of it and try to breath) with something that has an actual threat to humans and then environment.
Report Post »corbecket
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 7:59pmUmm, no. I’m not entirely sure that it is alkaline when it gets finished. As I recall, the stuff can just be washed down the drain. I would suppose that if one was fat enough, it would go down the drain as soap. It’s also touted as sterile, so no bugs introduced into the environment.
The technology has been about for at least the last ten years. The Colorado Veterinarian School has been using a really large system to dispose of cows, pigs, horses etc. I don’t know about donkeys, but it’s a possible solution (no pun intended) for the next election cycle. No need to get rid of elephants. We‘ll need ’em shortly.
I wasn’t left with the impression that there was any toxic problems in the end, ie. what comes out the pipe.
Of course, there are other methodologies being developed as well. Seems like there is an ultrasonic method that liquifies things, but isn’t that dependent on chemicals. In any case, you’ll be long gone by the time your turn comes, and the same applies to me. It is of only minor personal concern, for that very reason.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 12:08am@corbecket
Report Post »I think it’s Resonant Frequency. From what I remember, all matter resonates at certain frequencies and when that frequency is matched it comes appart at the molecular level. Like the singer shattering a glass. I still don’t like either method. The next thing we’ll hear is that the Chinese will call it an Herb and selling it to people.
.
RA0725
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:04pmAnybody remember the “Bass O Matic” from Saturday Night Live? (Dan Akroyd)
Report Post »vtxphantom
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:47pmFor the person that has everything, the RONCO Body Blender.
Report Post »sodacrackers2
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 8:26pmhehehehehehe now you guys are funny!
Report Post »SoCalWalt
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:04pmOh goodie, a Soylent Green Smoothie. Yum!
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:01pmOH great now they can exterminate us in a way that is friendly to the enviroment Yippee
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:07pmSo, what‘s so ’friendly’? what‘s done with the ’liquid’? flushed?
Report Post »ProbIemSoIver
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:18pmHow convenient !!!!
Report Post »squeaker
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:28pm@ Ruler4You “So, what‘s so ’friendly’? what‘s done with the ’liquid’? flushed?
It’s turned into Sea Foam…. You know… The stuff the reporters were covered with in the last hurricane…!
Report Post »shirelover
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 8:03pmewwwwwwwww that one poor slob was covered with it!!!
Report Post »OpenCarry
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:00pmSoluyent Green the movie has come to pass…Now who do we feed…
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:04pmI wonder if you get to lay in bed and watch all the pretty scenery pics of the world before they turn you to green goo.
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:07pmWell…if I die from a heart attack after eating too many pork products…just flush me out of a F-16 while over the Middle East.
Report Post »Oh My God
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:00pmSo, how do they present the family with the remains? In a beer bottle!
Report Post »javasport
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:00pmThen you can feed yourself to the masses. Soylent green is people!
Report Post »AzSage
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:00pmbioled in acid, or burned in a fire. let me think. oh wait, I’m dead, it doesn’t matter.
Report Post »YepImaConservative
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 5:57pmLiberals have been liquefying their bodies for many years now. It’s called peeing in their drawers due to a mixture of alcohol and drugs.
Orrrrr, the thought of the draft ever coming back…
Report Post »OpenCarry
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 5:56pmSoyulent Green — go watch it — and we will feed the leftovers to the democrats… and it thought it was sci-fi
Report Post »SavingtheRepublic.com
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:13pmI was thinking the same thing but also in “Waterworld” they would drop the dead in this green pit thing where if I remember right a tree had roots feeding off of bleeehhhhk
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 5:56pmI’d like to liquefy the idget that invented this thing!
Report Post »Seagal45
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 5:54pmWell that’s fairly disgusting.
Report Post »lemmings4obama
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:16pmAshes to ashes, liquid to liquid???
Report Post »FEMALL
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 5:51pmIsn‘t it ironic that ’Soylent Green’ starred Charlton Heston.Think about it.
O=US screwed
Report Post »lylejk
Posted on August 31, 2011 at 8:24pmI should have read the posts first. You posted this one way before others so I reply to your post. Great minds think alike. lol
:)
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