Duane Roberts 
The process of cremation is not environmentally friendly. Using the average figure of 2200 kg of carbon dioxide per body to be incinerated, it was calculated that a typical funeral service would release 20 tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
To put this in perspective, an average day’s air travel results in emissions exceeding 700 tonnes – over 40 times as much as one cremation.
To burn a body completely, temperatures must reach from 750-1400°C (1400-2660 °F). This means that most of the energy released by the burning body is wasted as heat rather than converted to electricity or used for another useful purpose.
Meaning that any environmental benefit gained by burning rather than burying a corpse with have been offset by the need to incinerate the body, which is typically less efficient than burying.
Annual increase in green house gases
The annual increase of greenhouse gas emissions as a result of human-caused global warming could easily be offset by lowering the amount emitted from cremation processes alone…but yet another example where vested interests are putting profits before people’s happiness and well-being…or even survival.
There is also the matter of disposing of ashes (or “cremains” as they are more commonly called in the U.S.), which has to be done by burying or scattering them somewhere…and this whole process takes an additional toll on precious resources, and disperses pollutants into the environment.
Is it safe?
It has been recommended that, in addition to regular inspections of crematoriums and cemeteries, local authority environmental health officers take responsibility for gathering information on fires involving crematoria or their contractors.
Data relating to fires would be fed into a central collection system where they can be analysed. It was believed at one point that there was such a high risk involved with bodies being burned in Britain that if pressure groups did not get government regulation immediately, within 10 years, the service could become so unprofitable that crematoria companies do not survive. As a result, families are forced to bury their relatives instead.
Culture
Religions and cultures require or prefer bodies to be cremated. This is often because a body is not supposed to decompose in natural conditions. However, it may take weeks or even months.
The burning of corpses was commonly practiced when an infectious disease carried by decaying bodies could easily spread from one village to another. Cremations can be divided into two general types: group and individual.
Group cremations
Group cremations are more practical for a large number of deaths taking place simultaneously (such as with disasters), while individual cremation suits better a situation with a single dead person whose body has got to be disposed of immediately.
The latter case may apply after an accident or sudden death and refers to situations where someone dies at home without medical attention being sought – for instance, a patient with terminal cancer.
After that, they are usually spread over the ground at some distance from human settlements, so there is no risk of infection nor contamination of water supplies with micro-organisms carried away from burning corpses.
Our Headstones Melbourne are excellent in preserving the environment while celebrating the dead.