In 1888, a British immigrant farmer to the US named Amos Hobson patented a process known as alkaline hydrolysis. His alkaline hydrolysis process allowed him to dispose of his deceased livestock. Hobson had been experimenting with ways to return his animals beneficially to the earth. The alkaline hydrolysis process he invented has now been perfected to turn the entire human body, except the bones, into nutrient-rich fertilizer. It is now legal in at least 20 states, and more states are in the process of legalizing it. In Colorado, alkaline hydrolysis has been a legal form of disposition since 2010. Clients of Boulder county’s The Natural Funeral have been the first in the state of Colorado to undergo this ecologically friendly form of cremation. Alkaline hydrolysis is used by medical facilities such as The Mayo Clinic in Texas. Water cremation, as we prefer to call it, is still new. But with time, we at The Natural Funeral believe it will surely become the most popular form of disposition as we realize the environmental costs of conventional flame cremation.
What’s the history?
