When a family hasn't yet collected the cremation ashes of a loved one, funeral directors are expected to hold ashes for at least five years before disposing of them accordingly.
Ashes have no expiry date
There's no rush on moving or transferring them. You can keep them in the container from the crematorium for as long as you need. You might keep them in your home forever, or you might decide to scatter or bury them at a later date.
The cremation itself takes about three to four hours, with another one to two hours for processing. Once a body is cremated, it typically takes seven to ten days to return the ashes to the family.
The ashes will usually be placed in a simple cardboard or plastic container but you can provide your own casket or urn. Pure Cremation uses a biodegradable container made from cellulose and finished with an attractive photo wrapper.
How much ash is produced when a body is cremated? About 5 pounds for an adult. The weight can vary from 3 pounds all the way up to 10, depending on the size and density of the deceased's bones. Organ tissue, fat, and fluids burn away during cremation, leaving only bone behind when the incineration's completed.
If you are concerned that the ashes will smell after the cremation, the answer is no. There is no odor emitted from ashes that have been properly cremated. Even over time, you shouldn't expect any particular smells to develop. If anything, certain cremation containers will simply emit a slight incense-like smell.
You don't get ash back.
Once you burn off all the water, soft tissue, organs, skin, hair, cremation container/casket, etc., what you're left with is bone. When complete, the bones are allowed to cool to a temperature that they can be handled and are placed into a processing machine.
The actual ashes are thus useless as they will not contain DNA. It is the bones and teeth that could potentially hold some DNA viable for analysis. However, after the cremation, the bones and teeth left behind are turned into a find powder (a process known as pulverization).
Are coffins sold back to the funeral director for re-use? No. The coffin and the body inside are cremated together. There are occasions where the deceased or the family of the deceased has opted for using a cardboard coffin in which their loved one will be cremated.
No matter what a person's preference is, from the Christian perspective, cremation does not prevent one from going to Heaven. So there's no need to worry, if God can create life from dust, surely he can restore life from ashes.
In most cases, people are cremated in either a sheet or the clothing they are wearing upon arrival to the crematory. However, most Direct Cremation providers give you and your family the option to fully dress your loved one prior to Direct Cremation.
The only parts of the body that are removed before cremation are artificial ones like a medical device or implant with a battery, silicone, pins, radiation pressurization, pacemakers, and large hip, knee, and shoulder replacements along with any external jewelry.
Human ashes are like sand and they do not float. They will not dissolve in the water; instead, they will descend into the ocean until they hit the floor. Can we have a service or a mariner's farewell ceremony before we scatter ashes?
Most of the time unclaimed ashes are scattered. But the funeral home has to get approval for the scattering just like the family would. Other funeral homes will bury the remains. They'll usually wait until there are a certain number of remains then bury them together in a mass grave.
Only one body can be cremated at once, and all cremated remains must be cleared from the cremation chamber before another cremation can begin. These standards do mean that you may have little input into any 'customization' of a cremation process.
The only thing remaining of the human body after cremation is part of the skeletal structure and occasionally small amounts of salts and minerals. The human skeleton is composed mostly of carbonates and calcium phosphates.
Are organs removed before cremation? Generally, there is no need for a deceased person's organs to be removed before cremation, unless they are being used for organ donation.
Do teeth burn during cremation? Teeth usually burn up during the cremation process. Tooth fragments that are not burnt up will be ground during the ash processing.
You certainly can! There are several regulations governing ash spreading, but none governing ash division. Following a loved one's cremation, some families prefer to split the ashes.
The body parts that do not burn are bone fragments. Teeth usually burn during cremation, but not entirely.
The bones of the body do not burn in fire. Why do the bones not burn in fire? For the burning of bone, a very high temperature of 1292 degrees Fahrenheit is required. At this temperature also, the calcium phosphate from which the bones are made will not entirely turn into ash.
When a body is brought to the crematory, a small numbered medical identification disk is placed with the body. This number is now associated with the name of the deceased. The disk accompanies the body throughout the cremation process and is attached to the cremated remains when returned to the family.
As the temperature reaches around 1400 degrees, the bones become darker black. At more than 1472 degrees, the calcium and phosphorus in the bones changes to light gray or white (depending on how long they remain at that temperature.
The body does not feel pain during cremation because the person is no longer alive. When a person dies, their brain stops sending signals to the body. This means that the person cannot feel pain or any other sensation.
While there is no time limit to how long you can store ashes in your home, you may want to consider having the ashes buried in a cemetery or use them to make a piece of jewelry as a keepsake.