Belgium is considering a new process called resomation for dissolving corpses in an eco-friendly way. I suppose we could have a moving ceremony when we pull the chain and send Granny on her way and every year place some flowers at the local sewage-processing plant. A wall erected there where an engraved plaque could be attached would also be a nice touch.They haven't yet arrived at a pit full of lime and a bulldozer for efficient mass disposals but give them time, as anything is posssible in this alternative universe into which we seem to have slipped! Of course you have to look on the bright side because the green bureaucrats have not yet started calculating carbon footprints of Nursing homes or the benefits to Gaia of premature liquefication of the feeble Grannies of this world.
It could hardly be said to be the most dignified of send-offs.
Undertakers in Belgium plan to eschew traditional burials and cremations and start dissolving corpses instead.
The move is intended to tackle a lack of burial space and environmental concerns
Under the process, known as resomation, bodies are treated in a steel chamber with potassium hydroxide at high pressure and a temperature of 180c (350f).
The raised pressure and temperature means the body reaches a similar end point as in standard cremation — just bones left to be crushed up — in two to three hours.
Six states in America have passed legislation to allow resomation and the Scottish company behind the technology says it is in talks to allow the process in the UK.
Although the ashes can be recycled in waste systems, the residue from the process can also be put in urns and handed over to relatives of the dead like normal ashes from crematorium farewells.
Resomation Ltd was formed in east Glasgow in 2007 and has been in talks with the UK government about using the technology in Britain.
The company says on its website: 'The process needs to be approved in each country and/or state before resomation can take place.
'In the UK discussions have already been held with the relevant Ministers and departments within Whitehall in order to progress the use of resomation in the UK.
'Elsewhere across the globe this is a work in progress.'
Sandy Sullivan, founder of The Resomation Company said: 'Resomation offers a new, innovative approach which uses less energy and emits significantly less greenhouse gasses than cremation.
'I am getting a lot of requests from families and we hope it will become legal in Scotland within the year.
'Burial space is running out and I have had lots of people contact me whose loved ones have chosen resomation.
'It's a highly sensitive subject but I think the public are ready for it.'
The name ‘Resomation’ comes from the Greek word ‘Resoma’ meaning rebirth of the human body.
Members of the EU Commission must rule on the Belgian proposal as there are concerns that residual waste could be flushed into the drainage system.
Belgian undertakers hope to have the greenlight within three months.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1292778/Belgium-considers-proposals-dissolve-bodies-flush-sewage-systems.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0tDVD0lRy
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