That is the stuff of nightmares. Makes cremation look appealing.

Today I saw on tv that the new thing in burials is applying physical breakdown techniques to aid in decomposition, in a process that is designed to return the human body to nature in the form of garden mulch. Sounds like a rather sensible alternative, but the cost is astronomical.

There are a few "green" techniques that I find interesting:

One is the use of a wicker coffin instead of a wooden coffin. Lighter, decompone easier and is 100% biodegradable.

I have never understood why the obsession on preserving human remains. In Italy, the coffin is a metallic one, and then there is the outer wooden shell (the shiny one we all see and pay dearly for...just to burn it shortly thereafter in the case of cremations - SERIOUSLY? That's a lot of waste).

Another one is the one I guess you were mentioning, the mulch one, where you are delivered to your relatives in a biodegradable egg with enriched soil (enriched with your remains and other nutrients). You basically lay an egg and plant a tree on top, which is nurtured by your remains. More on this: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/0…-capsula-mundi/index.html

I have also recently discovered that there is a thing called water cremation (in Spanish: aquamación (aqua + cremación). See https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-59859326 ).

I am not sure how it works: I guess they make a broth out of your body but I don't understand what happens afterwards. Is the family given an urn with water? Can it be thrown somewhere significant (or just flushed down the toilet - beware of your relatives if you are not on good terms!!) ?

Rice , you're the biochemist of the forum and you can explain in layman terms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…hydrolysis_(body_disposal)

Must admit I was surprised the missus had her mum cremated instead of placing her in the family vault or having her buried. She put her ashes in the vault.

I've told her should I kick the bucket first she's to get me cremated and throw the ashes in the bin.

A similar case was was in the Recoleta cemetery around 1905, when a young girl named Rufina Luro Cambaceres was buried alive as she had catalepsia, She gt awaked a few hour later inside the coffin and there are proofs that she was trying to call for help, but no person was hearing her call. She died inside the coffin and later was discovered her horribke death,

Since that iis mandatory to bury a person only 24 hours from his apparent death,'

You piqued my curiosity, serafina , so I read a little about this process, which was developed in the late 19th century as a way to turn animal remains into plant food. Fast forward to the 21st century, when alkaline hydrolysis is being marketed as an inexpensive and earth-friendly alternative to burial and cremation.

The process includes placing a body into a container with water and potassium hydroxide, and heated under pressure (think pressure cooker, except at a high pressure, to keep it from boiling) to reduce, in a matter of hours, the body to its liquid chemical components plus soft remains of bones, which can be crushed into ash like handfuls of crackers. The liquid is flushed down the toilet and the bone ash can be scattered in a meaningful location, buried, or sprinkled on the ground (presumably producing a beautiful crop of tulips or daffodils, which flourish with bone fertilizer).

Alkaline hydrolysis seems to be a better ecological choice than incinerating, burying, or mulch-producing methods, as it produces little pollution and requires little energy. Whether the obvious cost savings are passed along to the consumer, I don’t know. This doesn’t seem to be the case with the mulch-producing method, which is reported to cost US $6k-$8k, more than traditional burial and far more than cremation.

One cultural question I have is how these new burial alternatives are viewed by the various religions, which often take a dim view of deviations from tradition.

Quote from Rice

One cultural question I have is how these new burial alternatives are viewed by the various religions, which often take a dim view of deviations from tradition.

Indeed. My wife was very surprised how long it can take between death and 'burial/cremation' in a Church of Scotland funeral service compared to here.

In Argentina, embalming isn’t used, so as a practical matter, the sooner a body is buried, the better. In the US, there is so much importance placed on friends’ and relatives’ being able to arrive for the funeral from wherever they are, that funerals are now sometimes postponed for weeks. This seems cruel for the family, whose immediate grief is prolonged without the closure provided by the funeral ritual.

In Argentina you're in the coffin faster than you can say knife!

Last month we had to say goodbye to a biker friend who died on the Friday and by 9 am the following day we were at the funeral parlour.

Quote from Rice

In Argentina, embalming isn’t used, so as a practical matter, the sooner a body is buried, the better. In the US, there is so much importance placed on friends’ and relatives’ being able to arrive for the funeral from wherever they are, that funerals are now sometimes postponed for weeks. This seems cruel for the family, whose immediate grief is prolonged without the closure provided by the funeral ritual.

It's the same in the UK in my experience, so I don't see any need for the rush, especially since you're dead anyway.

Maybe the funeral parlors don’t have facilities for keeping bodies very cold?

And talking about deaths and burials...

A man and his wife take a trip to Jerusalem

Unfortunately, while they're there, the wife has a heart attack and passes away. So the Rabbi, who the man hired to handle the procedures, told the man:

"Sir, i have two options for you.

You can have her cremated here in Jerusalem for $500.

Or, we can ship your wife back to the United States, and buried there, for $15,000."

The man says "i'm going to have her brought back home."

The Rabbi says "Mister, if i may ask. Why would you not want to save so much money by having her cremated here in Jerusalem?"

The man says "I'll tell you why.

2000 years ago, a man died in this city. Three days later, he came back to life. **I can't take that chance."**

Thanks for explaining the process, Rice . Eco-friendly never rhymes with money-savvy, it seems!

Cremation was not originally allowed by the Roman-Catholic Church, however it is widely accepted nowadays. I believe it is for practical reasons. As for other methods of disposition, I am not sure. The Wikipedia page on water cremation has a section on the views of the various religions.

You are correct on embalming - in the US is very common and there is a huge business. On Netflix I am watching a reality on a funeral home in Memphis (Buried by the Bernards) and I enjoyed watching one on a Maori's FH (The Casketers). We don't have a open casket in Italy. However, the family can pay their last farewell at the hospital's morgue (if the person died in the hospital) right before the funeral, or at the deceased's residence (if the person died at home). Some FHs have a dedicated room for a funeral service, but I am not sure if the body is taken there (never been to one).

I have found funerals here happening much faster than in Italy, as in Splinter 's experience. I haven't see the 24-hour rule met with our family deaths. Perhaps because there was no doubt about it (illness).

When my husband's grandpa passed, it was about 2 PM. His funeral was on the next day, but I can't remember at what time. I think around noon.

I was impressed at the speed at which everything moved. When he passed, we rushed to the hospital. They wanted his DNI card. We had it at home, so I took the bus to pick it up. By the time I was home (Olivos to San Isidro by bus), my husband said they had already taken the body to the refrigeration cells downstairs, and that the funeral home was already called. So we went at the funeral home in the evening (about 9 PM) to choose the coffin and the kind of ceremony and the place. That's when my surprise came in.

In Italy, the church where a funeral takes place is usually the one that the deceased attended, or the closest one. Or a meaningful one. It was my desider (to honor the deceased) to have his funeral in the same church where he got married, as it was the only church that I heard him mentioning. However, the family just wanted to wrap it up as soon as possible. There was a small funeral in a private cemetery in Pilar (?). The ashes were picked up about 10 days later and the family then scattered them in the sea a few weeks after that (in the same spot where grandma's ashes were thrown a few years before).

In Italy, the funeral is 2-3 days after the death. Right after the church function, the body is buried at the cemetery. Most people just attend the church mass, closest family and friends also go to the cemetery. Then there is a refreshment at the deceased's home (or a family home nearby).

We were curious about the Catholic Church’s change of mind in accepting cremation after strongly forbidding it. We asked a Jesuit priest, who confirmed that cremation was now allowed by the Church, but only if the ashes were reverently dealt with and buried instead of scattering to the wind, dividing among family members, placed in an urn on the mantle, etc.

So I guess the same would go for mulching or alkaline reduction.