SCOTLAND is set to introduce environmentally-friendly water cremations as early as next year, it has been announced.

Plans to introduce hydrolysis, also known as water cremation, under draft regulations in the Scottish Parliament were revealed by the Scottish Government on Wednesday.

If approved by MSPs on Wednesday, the new legislation would give people an environmentally-friendly alternative to burial or cremation for the first time in more than a century.

The process involves wrapping a body in a silk or woollen shroud, or other biodegradable material, before placing it in a chamber with hot water and chemicals, which speeds up decomposition.

Remains can then be returned to next of kin, similarly to ashes following cremation.

The first hydrolysis will take place next year, once a

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