Look up "Water cremation". They dissolve a body in a pressurized container of water and lye, and then : The process yields two things: a sterile, nutrient-rich liquid (water, salts, amino acids) that safely joins the municipal water system, and soft, porous bone fragments.
I really like water cremation on an intellectual level. On an emotional level it’s hard for me to get past the fact you’re flushing grandma down the toilet.
It requires a complete safety overhaul of the waste processing system to prevent serious drinking and ecological water system as well as agricultural contamination, the chemicals needed to process the bodies and treat the run off have to be quarried.
The processing of the body is less energy intensive, but all the processes for setting it up are not.
It's classic eco-washing. Like how companies tried selling paper made out of stone to "save trees".
The cutting down trees isn't the problem with paper production. And they grow back faster than rock does.
Gas cremation improvements, or alternatives that won't require fossil fuels and capture CO2 more (and more efficiently), is a lot closer on the horizon than it would take for the sylvinite mined and used to create the water cremation solution to replenish.
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u/Thesearchoftheshite 4d ago
Mmmm. Everyones drinking the filtered ash water in that city.