Alkaline hydrolysis — a cremation process that dissolves body tissue in water and chemicals — has been introduced to Vermont as a greener afterlife alternative.

By Kate Kampner, for the Community News Service

MILTON — When it comes to choosing a funeral option, many factors need to be considered, like process, price and location. So when customers started asking Jonathan Duponte, a funeral home owner in Milton, Vermont, about environmentally friendly options, he began digging for answers. 

Eventually, Duponte learned about alkaline hydrolysis, also known as ‘aquamation’ or ‘water cremation.’

Water cremation offers a greener alternative for those looking to contribute less carbon emissions, post-mortem. Traditional options, like conventional burials and flame cremation, typically have significant contributions to carbon emissions. 

In short, alkaline hydrolysis combines water and alkaline chemicals with heat and pressure in a sealed chamber to break down the body’s tissue, only leaving bone. 

Alkaline hydrolysis is legal in 28 states and available in 19, including Vermont. 

Minor Funeral Home, owned by Duponte, became the first to provide this process in the state since they installed the machine in March of this year. 

“I was very interested in this based on how it’s a gentle process, as opposed to what could be construed from the traditional process,” Duponte said. 

Water cremation starts by putting the body into a hydrolysis machine, an air and water-tight chamber. The deceased’s sex, body mass and weight determine how much solution and water are needed to fill the chamber once it’s sealed. 

The chamber is then rocked back and forth to circulate the solution around the body. On average, the process takes three hours, but in some cases, it can take up to sixteen hours, according to the Cremation Association of North America. 

In comparison, flame cremation takes two to three hours, when the body is typically burned between 1,400 and 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The end results of the process, in general, are six to 12 pounds of bone fragments — which can be ground up into a fine powder — and a sterile effluent, a mix of salts, amino acids and water. Just like any wastewater, the effluent is made less acidic and can be put into a wastewater system or the ocean.  

Duponte uses a stainless-steel hydrolysis chamber from Colorado-based company, Fireless Cremation. 

Ed Gazvoda is a co-inventor of the technology and made his first successful operation in 2019. He said his machinery allows for zero direct carbon emissions and requires 18 gallons of water, while other versions of the chamber typically need around 500.  

“I call it my death-calling,” said Gazvoda. “This is the future of afterlife care.” 

In Colorado, Gazvoda can give the leftover wastewater, or what he calls ‘essence’, from their machinery to farmers to use over farmland at no cost. 

Gazvoda, who uses essence on his own land, said his process removes a layer of fat, which allows the liquid to be a powerful plant biostimulant. 

Other companies, which just have the effluent as an outcome, should not use it over land because of the remaining fat, he said. 

“It’s not for everyone,” said Gazvoda. “It’s still too new, and people aren’t used to doing something useful with their bodies when they’re dead.” 

Back in Milton, Duponte said families were asking for greener options. 

“I felt it was important to be a steward of the environment,” he said. “If there’s a way to do something better, why not have that option for families?” 

Although green burials are an available, eco-friendly alternative in Vermont, alkaline hydrolysis is an option for those who are more inclined to do a flame cremation, said funeral reform advocate Lee Webster.

Webster helps run Vermont Funeral Resources and Education, a privately funded informational website. The site is a part of her larger organization that gives legal information and options for a death plan on a state-by-state basis. 

One of Webster’s roles as a funeral reformer is to provide those interested with an environmental lens for funeral options. 

“My job basically is just to pull back the curtain and let people know, ‘Okay, while you’re making your decision, be aware of these facts as well,’” she said. 

Webster is currently a New Hampshire resident but was raised in Vermont, where her parents were cemetery commissioners in East Montpelier. 

Alkaline hydrolysis lands in the middle of her ranking from most to least impact. 

“Are we getting greener? Yes. Are we green? No,” she said.

Webster said that the process itself uses a great amount of electricity. While there may be no direct carbon emissions, she said, there are other hidden environmental costs, such as transportation emissions or energy needed to run the facility. 

On average, Webster said, alkaline hydrolysis costs between $3,500 to $5,000, in comparison to flame cremation at $1,500 and conventional burial processes, which can cost upwards of $4,000. 

“There are some trade-offs here,” she said.

Still, Webster said the process is better than flame cremation, which emits 1.2 grams of mercury into the air, according to a 2020 health risk assessment done in British Columbia. 

Above all, Webster said, when it comes to afterlife choices, people have the right to select whatever fits their lifestyle. 

But, she said, alkaline hydrolysis and green burials get people thinking about more than the traditional burials and flame cremations.  

“It’s a different option, and I’m grateful for as many options as can be,” Webster said. 

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship