Water cremation: sustainable body disposal is coming to Scotland – here are the benefits

Already a popular option in the US, and famously chosen by Archbishop Desmond Tutu who died in 2021, alkaline hydrolysis – a sustainable method of disposing the body after death – is set to be regulated in Scotland.

Alkaline hydrolysis reduces the body to its basic components. Using a heated, alkali-water-based solution (think diluted soft-soap), the process reduces the body to bones. As with cremation, the bones are then crushed and returned to kin in an urn.