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As Traditional Burials Decline, A New Option Appears

Visitors come from all over the world to see Joe Wilson's factory in Danville, Ind.

In this solar-powered facility, workers spend months building a single machine that's used for a process called alkaline hydrolysis.

It's known popularly by a lot of different names, including chemical cremation.

"The word 'chemical' gives people the wrong impression of it," Wilson says, and he says he takes issue with term.

He says because there's no flame involved, alkaline hydrolysis shouldn't be called cremation. And the chemicals used in the process are natural.

"The chemicals used in here are actually alkaline, and they derive from natural elements of salts and salt water," he says. "It is really a catalyst, and it is the same thing used in decomposition."

Here's How It Works



Instead of a traditional cremation, which incinerates a body with a furnace, alkaline hydrolysis uses water and chemicals to dissolve human remains inside a large drum.

The water mixture is then heated to about 350 degrees for about four hours.

At the end of the process, all that's left are bones and a sterile, thick mixture that is safe to be washed down the drain.

As in traditional cremation, the bones are then ground down and returned to the person's family.

The machines Wilson uses for the process are manufactured in Indiana.

And while he can sell the equipment, facilities here can't use it. Alkaline hydrolysis is illegal in 39 states including Indiana.

A new bill before the state legislature would legalize alkaline hydrolysis and require the Indiana State Board of Funeral and Cemetery Service to adopt rules that would regulate the process.

The Indiana Funeral Directors Association hasn't taken a stance on alkaline hydrolysis.

Director Curtis Rostad says the association's main concern is that the process is regulated.

"It's just a matter of knowing who's doing this and how it's being done, so we do have to change our laws to accommodate it" Rostad says.

He says some people oppose the process on religious grounds. Rostad says if a religion doesn't support cremation, it wouldn't support alkaline hydrolysis.

He also notes the concept of dissolving a loved one's body with chemicals just might not sit well with some people.

"To some people, let's use the word, it's yucky, and they have to get used to that idea," he says.

The New Normal For Burial?



Proponents of the new process say there isn't much a difference between that process and traditional cremation methods.

"It is a difference between exposing the bodies to flame or exposing them to hot water. In both cases, you are going to consume the body down to a skeleton," Nathan Butler of Indiana Green Burial says.

Butler says alkaline hydrolysis fits into a growing national trend - more people than ever are choosing alternative burials.

"The value people are putting on the funeral services and actually having the body present is not as important to the newer generation." Butler says.

The National Funeral Directors Association estimates 47 percent of consumers chose cremation in 2014.

That's compared with just 10 percent in 1980.

The NFDA predicts this year will be the first in which cremation surpasses traditional burials.

Butler's organization is backing the process because he says it's better for the environment. Alkaline hydrolysis uses less energy and releases fewer chemical emissions than traditional cremation.

Back in Danville, Joe Wilson walks through his factory. Anticipating a big growth in business, he spent more than a million dollars in 2013 to expand this space.

Wilson says it's time Indiana's legislators approve the process.

"It is very important that our state that I grew up in, and where we built our plant, allows this like the other 11 states that already do." Wilson says.

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