- The desire to be green has expanded to California's funeral industry, which is pushing for a change in state law to allow for an eco-friendlier alternative to cremation and burial: water resolution.

Also known as alkaline hydrolysis, biocremation or resomation, the technology uses heated water, potassium hydroxide and turbulence to speed up the decomposition process and dissolve body tissue within three to four hours. The end results: pure white bones that can be pulverized into a substance similar to ash and a liquid that proponents say is a sterile, environmentally safe solution that can be safely washed down the drain or even used to water plants.

The technology has been in use for more than a decade, mostly by research laboratories that dispose of animal remains. But soon, California residents may have the option at the mortuary as well. A state assemblyman has introduced a bill that would add the process to the list of legally allowable ways mortuaries can deal with human remains.

Supporters say it will offer environmentally conscious consumers a way to avoid the pitfalls of traditional end-of-life options. Cremation uses fossil fuels and is regulated by environmental officials because of the air emissions. Burials also pose environmental challenges because embalming fluids are generally made of chemicals, including formaldehyde, that eventually leak into the ground. There's also less and less space for cemeteries, especially in dense urban areas such as the Bay Area.

Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona (Riverside County), got the idea from a mortuary owner in his district. The technology has already been approved in several other states, and a funeral home in Florida will soon be the first place in the nation to offer it to the public, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.

Miller said he anticipates no problems getting his proposal through the Legislature.

On the brink

The Catholic Church's National Bioethics Center has given its blessing to the procedure, and the Department of Anatomy at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota has been using the process - their Web site refers to it as "chemical cremation" - on human cadavers donated for research. In Europe, it's been used at funeral homes for years, said James Olson, a spokesman for the National Funeral Directors Association.

"The bill has broad bipartisan support and from the different special interests, the environmental and the business communities," Miller said. "It offers a compassionate option, with a greener technology, it reduces the carbon footprint, for people who are measuring that, and it does the same thing as a direct flame."

The assemblyman got the idea from Chris Miller, who owns Thomas Miller Mortuary in Corona. Chris Miller, who has no relation to the assemblyman, said he wanted a "green alternative to the disposition of human remains."

"All of the handling procedures are the same (as cremation).... The only difference will really be the process itself," he said. "So many people are into the green movement, and there's no carbon footprint, so I can say it's 100 percent green technology."

People are increasingly asking for green alternatives to traditional burial or cremation, said Olson, who owns a funeral home in Wisconsin.

Green trend

It's increasingly common for people to skip the embalming process or request embalming fluids that are formaldehyde-free. Others may choose biodegradable caskets or none at all.

"It's really a throwback to the way it's always been. The modern-day funerals came out of the Civil War, people started embalming soldiers to take them home for burial," Olson said. "Prior to the turn of the century, funerals were always held in homes, and people were buried in the family plot at their church or on their (own land). We're seeing people going back to that."

Olson and George Prather, former president of the California Funeral Directors Association, said the cost of alkaline hydrolysis will probably be slightly higher than cremation at first, but should become comparable as the practice spreads. Olson said a typical cremation, with all of the funeral home fees, runs $2,000 to $3,000. Prather estimated that biocremation would cost several hundred dollars more.

"Initially people who want to be green will have to pay a premium for it," Prather said. "But eventually it should be the same."

Simple process

While no real opposition has emerged, one man would certainly benefit from the passage of AB2283: Brad Crain, president of BioSAFE Engineering LLC, one of the companies that make and sell the machines.

The process is fairly simple, he said: A body is placed into a large stainless steel machine with water and potassium hydroxide, an inorganic compound. It is then heated to more than 300 degrees. Turbulence created by the machine helps speed the decomposition process, dissolving flesh and soft tissue, Crain said. The bones are left over, as in cremation, and will be crushed and given back to families exactly the same way.

"The end result is a slightly colored liquid that's safe to go down the drain," he said. "I wouldn't drink it, but you could."

He touted its safety - any diseases, embalming fluid or radioactive matter in the body are rendered neutral and safe, he said. And it eliminates commingling of remains, something he said is common during cremation because incinerators are not washed out between uses the way alkaline hydrolysis machines are.

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