Green Your Death - Efficient Cremations
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK 
on 08.12.07
A crematorium in Bath, in the UK, is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint by making their cremation schedule more efficient. New burners have been installed, and cremations are only undertaken when enough bodies are waiting. Rosemary Tiley, the local council's bereavement manager, said, "we need to manage our workload as effectively and as efficiently as possible, both to minimize gas usage as an environmental issue and to look after our new cremators, which we hope will last a long time. In order to do this we will fire up only one cremator if there are insufficient cremations to warrant both being used. We will store coffins overnight to achieve a balanced workload and gain the greatest efficiency from our cremators."
Some people, like funeral director Carol Spalding, believe that this could upset mourners, "If somebody you love has died I'm not sure that you would be particularly happy about them being left overnight for cremation. It's a very difficult subject to broach - you're sitting in a room with someone who's feeling very raw. There are a few tears. You are talking about delicate things like readings and vicars. Then you have to ask them to sign the form and tell them the cremation might not take place that day."
Cremation is a growing concern for environmentalists as they are a large source of carbon emissions, as well as mercury pollution caused by burning tooth fillings. Cremating a body also takes between one and two hours, so uses a vast amount of energy. It seems that death has changed from a very natural process to one which pollutes massively, and I don't see how it can make the grieving process any easier for loved ones. However, people should have the choice to be treated however they want after they pass on. ::The Guardian
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Morbid news, but I love it to death, hahahahahha!
Check out TH's article about funeral pyres in India going green. That's a great one and one for comparison to this.
And oh, as for the waiting for cremation, just remember, death is eternal. It can wait.
It's going to take a serious commitment to green living (and dying) for a family member to agree to that. Crematorium operators are installing newer equipment that does a better job of reducing emissions, so cremation is greener than it used to be. And new urns made from recycled or sustainably harvested materials can make a difference. Until green cemeteries become commonplace, it may be an acceptable compromise for some people.
Thanks for the info about Green Funerals. I have been looking for information at the Chicago Green Expos and Green Festivals and there is never any info for this huge section of green living. We all gotta go sometimes, so why leave a leagacy of toxins destoying and polluting the ground when we go? As the public becomes more educated, I believe people will warm up to this beautiful idea, realizing that we help the earth tremendously in this one aspect alone. Bravo zulu - thanks again!
My personal experience with the services my family had for my Grandmother was that waiting for cremation would be insignificant. The services were about a month or more from when she passed away due to our family being spread apart throughout the U.S. The same was true for my Grandfather's services about 10 years earlier.