Scotland becomes first UK country to legalise water cremation via alkaline hydrolysis

Key facts

• Scotland has become the first country in the United Kingdom to legalise water cremations using the alkaline hydrolysis process.
• Alkaline hydrolysis heats the body to 150 °C in a mixture of potassium hydroxide and water for up to 90 minutes, leaving only bones that are dried, pulverised and returned to relatives.
• The process emits about seven times less carbon dioxide than a typical cremation, which has a footprint of roughly 320 kg of carbon dioxide.
• Water cremation was chosen as the method for anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
• Scottish Public Health Minister Jenni Minto stated the process offers an environmentally friendly alternative and will follow the same regulatory requirements as existing burial and cremation methods.
• Kindly Earth, which holds exclusive UK rights to manufacture hydrolysis equipment, expects the first Scottish procedures to begin in summer after equipment installation and approval from Scottish Water.