Years ago people never really thought of cremation as a viable choice after death. Families bought burial plots and had a traditional funeral complete with visitation at the funeral home and church service on the day of burial. Nowadays, people are choosing cremation as an option for many reasons. The stigma associated with being cremated and put into an urn earn to be kept by a loved one has dissipated about as quickly as the appeal of being buried in a traditional cemetery. Here are a couple of reasons why people are choosing cremation as opposed to traditional funerals.
Pre-Arranged Cremation
Cremation is less expensive than a traditional burial. You can expect to spend upwards of $5,000 just from the services of the funeral parlor including embalming and casket, when you opt for a traditional funeral. This doesn’t take into consideration the burial plot, the church, or any other service you may need. Cremation on the other hand costs about one third of this price. There is no need to purchase a burial plot if you are cremated because a loved one can keep your ashes with them or they can sprinkle your ashes in accordance to your predetermined will. If you live in another part of the country from your family, cremation is a viable alternative that allows you to be buried in a family plot in another part of the country or world. It is a lot less expensive to ship cremains that it is to ship a body in a casket.
Cremation is More Environmentally Friendly
This is probably the last thing on your mind when thinking of burial, but cremation is much more environmentally friendly than traditional funerals. The traditional way of treating a body pumps it full of chemicals to preserve it. With cremation, there is no need to do this. The body is incinerated and the ashes collected in an urn. The urns are even environmentally friendly with choices made out of recycled and even biodegradable materials. If you choose to have your ashes scattered in a special place, you don’t have to worry about the impact of ashes on the environment either.
Eco Friendly Cremation
Escaping the Somber Cemetery
This is one of the main reasons beyond the price that help people to decide on cremation. Many people do not see the appeal of being buried in a cemetery for eternity. The thought is that once the person is dead then there is no reason to preserve the body and bury it. The same purpose can be met by cremating the body and putting the ashes into an urn. If the family is set on a gravesite, then the ashes can be added to a burial plot, but a smaller one can be used which will also save money. Many religions are now allowing members to be cremated whereas before this practice was frowned upon. There are even memorial gardens being set up for members of the church who choose this option.
How the cremation process works
Unless you understand how the cremation process works, you won’t be able to arrive at the right decision about which process to use. Most of us are not aware about the way a cremation process works even though this practice has been prevalent for about two thousand years. The reason we do not understand the working of a cremation process is because everything takes place behind the scenes. Understanding the process will help you feel less anxious and so it makes sense to delve deeper into the working of the cremation process.
Industrial furnaces
Modern crematoriums make use of industrial furnaces and the entire process will take between two and three hours. Before the process begins, it is necessary to properly identify the deceased and second, you need to ensure the operation is safe. Finally, there is need to exercise care and the deceased must be shown proper respect. Here is a step by step look at the entire cremation process.
Returning the body back to its basic elements
The remains of the deceased will be consigned to flames to return the body back to its basic elements. A specially designed furnace will be used for this purpose and is known as the cremation chamber or the retort. Sometimes, the crematorium will require you to place the body in a container which can be one that is made from rigid cardboard.
Cremation Ashes
The remains of the deceased, after cremation, are known as the ashes. In truth, the remains are actually fragments of bone and these must be mingled with whatever remains of the container as well as any other product of the cremation. The cremation generally produces between three and nine pounds of the remains. It all depends on how big the body of the deceased was. Some companies offer ash scattering as a service.
First steps
The cremation process starts with the identification of the deceased and it also requires suitable authorization. The body will then be prepared for the cremation and will then be put in a suitable container. The container, with the deceased’s body inside, will then be moved to the cremation chamber.
Removing the metals
Once the cremation process has been completed, the remaining metal will be removed and the remains will then be ground. The ashes will then be transferred to a suitable container or they could be put in an urn that has been provided by the deceased’s family. That is basically how the cremation process works.
Strict procedures
The crematorium process has strict procedures regarding identification of the deceased. You should have permission and all paperwork should have been completed. The body must then be prepared for the cremation and this requires removal of all jewelry and other items. Medical devices, along with prosthetics (mechanical or battery-operated) must be removed. Make sure you use the right container to put the body in prior to cremation. A simple box made of cardboard will do but make sure the container is strong enough to hold the body and it must also be combustible.
Holding the ashes After cremation, you may need a plastic bag to hold the ashes. This bag will then be put in the urn provided by the deceased’s family. The urn or container will then be given to the family. Last but not least, the cremation as well as the burial (in ground) will require some work on the body. Choose the option that works best for you. Things like cost and your religious beliefs will help
The living body benefits immensely when it floats in water. One of the reasons why some people prefer water cremation is because they wish to carry over those benefits to the dead. Water cremation is a new way of disposing off a dead body. It is a green method that has caught the attention of many folks but its history is quite creepy because it originally involved turning livestock into food for plants.
What is water cremation?
Water cremation is also known as alkaline hydrolysis and was first invented way back in the late nineteenth century. Originally, it was meant to aid the decomposition of dead animal bodies. When these bodies decomposed, they could be turned into a fertilizer. It is only about twenty years ago that people came to realize that this was a wonderful way of disposing off medical cadavers which were no longer required. Today, alkaline hydrolysis has become an alternative method for disposing off dead bodies and is growing in popularity compared to traditional crematon.
Pressure vessel filled with water and lye mixture
In this method, the dead body needs to be put into a pressure vessel that will later be filled with a mix of water and lye. Thereafter, the mixture and the body are heated to approximately 160 degrees Celsius but at a high pressure. The high pressure ensures that the body and water do not boil. What happens is that the body will be broken down into chemical components. The entire water cremation process takes between 4 and 6 hours.
Heating temperature
It is up to you to decide whether to use a lower temperature and you can also decide what amount of pressure is to be applied. However, in this case the process takes between fourteen and sixteen hours at temperatures of just 98 degrees Celsius.
pH levels
When the water cremation process begins, the mixture is mainly basic and it has a pH level of about 14. This level then drops by about e at the end of the water cremation. However, the pH levels at the end depend mainly on how much time is used to cremate the body in this way and how much fat was present in the body.
Green and brown tinted liquid remains
At the end of the water cremation, some amount of green and brown tinted liquid that contains amino acids and peptides as well as sugar and salts will be left. In addition, there will be soft and porous white bone that you can easily crush with your hands. A common way of doing this is by inserting the bone in a cremulator which helps to form a dust that is white in color. This ash can then be given to the family of the deceased. The liquid on the other hand will be disposed of through the sanitary sewer system but it is up to you to also use it in your garden or in any other green space.
Loved by environmentally conscious people
The water cremation process has found favor among those who are environmentally conscious. It does not produce any mercury emission and it also does not produce high amounts of carbon dioxide or pollutants. This method was originally patented by Amos Herbert Hobson in the year 1888 but in 2007, a Scotsman by the name of Sandy Sullivan started his own company that produced the machines to complete the water cremation process.
There is no pollution caused by water cremation process and the procedure uses less than ten percent of the energy of a regular cremation.
A combination of alkaline, high temperature and flowing water pressure that breaks down body tissue. As a result, all that remains are the bones which are returned to the family as ashes. Your loved ones can decided what to do with your ashes such as placing them in a an urn, hiring an ash scattering company, or even having them made it cremation jewelry.
