'Eco-friendly' funeral company dissolves bodies and pours remains into sewers

A Canadian funeral company that uses the "environmentally friendly" method of dissolving human remains and draining the resulting liquid waste into sewers is being monitored by water officials.

The method "brings your body back to its natural state" much more quickly than traditional burial, Aquagreen Dispositions owner Dale Hilton told CBC News Ottawa.

Mr Hilton said it was also more environmentally friendly than flame-based cremations, which release about 250kg of carbon dioxide.

Instead, his system breaks down bodies in a heated and pressurised vessel containing salts and water. The resulting liquid is filtered twice and then sent into the local sewage treatment system.

Local water official Ted Joynt had inspected the business before it opened in May last year, CBC News said, and his department continues to monitor its waste water weekly.

All the readings have been within acceptable ranges for commercial water use, he said, but a larger number of bodies could present problems.

Once Mr Hilton's system disposes of liquid waste from human remains, its dries the remaining skeletal remains and presses them into powder.

"It's 100 percent green," he told CBC News.