What To Do With Cremation Remains?

People often wonder, “what do I do with cremation ashes?” The same question arises with aquamation remains. One of the benefits of aquamation is that families have a variety of options for remembering and honoring a loved one.  

There are many important end-of-life considerations in the days, weeks, months, and even years leading up to death. It’s important to plan ahead, to pre-plan, and to make prearrangements. For most, this means choosing a funeral home, saving for a funeral, pre-paying, and filling out pre-need contracts. Yet, many people forget to talk about what to do with the cremation remains. 

It’s very important for families to find ways to memorialize, remember, and honor a loved one. 

Endswell Aquamation meets with families to discuss a variety of options for the aquamation ashes. Please contact us to discuss Endswell Aquamation services or visit our Urn Gallery. 

So, what do you do with cremation ashes? 

Keep Them in a Cremation Urn at Home

You may want to keep your loved one’s ashes. It’s common; and it’s one of the many benefits of aquamation. People are choosing affordable aquamation at Endswell because it is less expensive than burial. Additionally, water cremation also offers the family flexibility and convenience because the remains can be shipped, moved, divided among family members, kept safe in an urn, scattered, or buried. 

Keeping an urn with ashes can unburden a family from visiting a particular burial site or cemetery. Keeping an aquamation urn at home allows families to honor and pay tribute to a loved one.

Endswell Aquamation offers a high-quality bamboo urn as part of our affordable aquamation service. 

For families interested in a unique urn to honor their unique loved-one, our gallery of cremation urns is filled with hand-made urns made by local artists. Endswell’s Urn Gallery is also an art gallery that offers over 300 unique aquamation and cremation urns. 

Scatter the Ashes at the Ocean

People often privately and quietly scatter cremation ashes in a local lake or river; however the Clean Water Act says that you can scatter cremains three nautical miles from shore. Just be sure to notify the EPA within 30 days of scattering ashes at sea. 

Many families in coastal communities choose to scatter ashes at sea. The practice, also known as burial at sea, allows the ocean’s currents to naturally distribute the remains, carrying them all over the world. 

With permission from the EPA, many families can scatter ashes on inland waterways like lakes and streams. A permit may be required.

Endswell Water Cremation offers a water urn made by The Living Urn. This biodegradable urn floats in the water, as families pay their respects; and it gradually dissolves and disperses the ashes. 

Scatter the Ashes at a Meaningful or Memorable Place

Did your loved one have a favorite place they visited? Or is there a place that was significant to you and your family? This could be a park, a lake, private land, or maybe somewhere they always wanted to visit. Small keepsake and scattering urns available at Endswell Urn Gallery are a convenient way to transport and scatter small amounts of cremation ashes in memorable places. 

It’s important to follow the local laws. NOLO says, “You should request permission before scattering ashes on federal land. As with local or state land, however, you will probably encounter no resistance if you conduct the scattering ceremony quietly and keep the ashes well away from trails, roads, facilities, and waterways.”

Bury the Ashes

Many people choose to bury their aquamation or cremation remains. Often, cemeteries have dedicated plots for aquamation or cremation urns. In many cases, multiple urns can be buried in one plot, saving money, and allowing loved ones to be buried together. 

Bluestem conservation cemetery in Orange County, North Carolina offers interment rights for ash burial. 

Many other cemeteries also offer burial plots and scattering gardens. 

Planting a Tree with Ashes

Endswell Aquamation offers the BioUrn, made by The Living Urn. The outer burial container is biodegradable and the BioUrn contains soil amendments that reduce the alkalinity of the ashes and provide beneficial nutrients to the tree. 

Families often choose to scatter ashes in a garden or plant a tree to honor a loved one. Cremation remains are alkaline and high in sodium. To avoid harming a plant’s root system, soil additives are necessary to offset the high pH levels and high sodium content. This doesn’t mean there is anything dangerous about cremation or aquamation ashes. But a gardener wouldn’t plant a flower in a pot of sand; nor should someone plant a flower in a pot of ashes.  

Endswell offers a variety of soil amendments for aquamation ashes so you can safely scatter or bury the remains and ensure that your plants are healthy. 

Parting Stone – Solidified Remains

Endswell Aquamation has partnered with Parting Stone. These solidified remains are tangible, smooth, and hand-held keepsakes that can be kept at home or buried. For obvious reasons, many families don’t touch the ash remains unless they are scattering. These keepsake stones made by Parting Stone offer something can be touched and held. 

Use The Ashes To Create Art or Jewelry

Ashes can be formed into just about anything. Ash remains can be incorporated into jewelry or art.  Many people are familiar with keepsake lockets that contain cremation ashes. But, Endswell Urn Gallery works with local artist to create custom jewelry. Custom cremation jewelry provides a unique and personalized way to remember a loved one. Unlike cremation remains, which resemble a course gravel or sand, aquamation remains are lighter in color and uniform in consistency. This makes aquamation ashes ideal for jewelry and art. 

Make Your Plans With Endswell Aquamation

Endswell offers simple and affordable aquamation services. We help families who need our services now as well as families who are planning for the future. The transportation, death certificates, and an eco-friendly urn, are covered with your aquamation service.

Endswell Aquamation will work with you to memorialize, honor, and remember your loved one in a way that is meaningful to you and your family. 

Contact us at 919.907.9777 for more information.