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Is It Better to Be Buried or Cremated? Why So Many People Are Choosing Cremation

Are you wondering, is it better to be buried or cremated? Check out this guide on why so many are choosing cremation over burial.
Is It Better to Be Buried or Cremated? Why Many Are Choosing Cremation

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Roughly three million Americans died in 2018. This may seem disastrous, but it’s actually quite normal.

The population of the United States is 300 million, which means that only about 1% of them die each year. If you know 100 or more people, chances are that at least one of them died two years ago.

Death is something we all have in common, but how we handle death, including our own, is where we differ. Some people plan funerals extensively, while others see it as a waste.

One of the biggest arguments revolves around how the body should be treated after death. Is it better to be buried or cremated? We’ll talk more about that in the paragraphs below.

Cost

Affordability is a major concern when it comes to funerals. When it comes to cost, is it better to be buried or cremated? In terms of affordability, cremation is often a better choice.

The biggest reason for this has to do with the circumstances of cremation. Burial is traditionally preceded by a funeral, but this tradition isn’t as strong with cremation. Many people still hold funerals for cremated loved ones, but it isn’t as common.

If you decide not to hold a funeral, you can donate the money to a good cause. It’s a great way to remember your loved one and give them even more of a legacy.

How you cremate the body will also affect the cost. We’ve all know about flame cremation, but have you heard of aquamation?

Aquamation is an alternative to typical cremation that claims to be better for the environment. In aquamation, the deceased is placed into a tub of heated chemicals which will break the body down to bones without releasing smoke.

This comes with its own issues, though. The first is that it’s far more expensive, often twice the cost of flame cremation.

Greener

Aquamation relies on a lot of machinery and complicated chemical processes, which means there’s always the risk, however small, of something going wrong. The chemical solution in aquamation is often kept at roughly 200 degrees Fahrenheit. If it breaks or leaks, you have a broken machine and a serious safety hazard.

This practice has been around for less than 20 years, so there’s a possibility that an issue we don’t yet know about will emerge later.

Others state that aquamation complicates a fairly simple process. You could just use biodegradable materials, skip embalming, and have yourself buried. Your body will decay, the plants will absorb the nutrients and nobody’s any worse for the wear.       

Even if you do choose flame cremation, it’s greener than most burials. Plus, unlike totally natural burials, your family will still have something permanent to remember you by.

Flexible

Death can be a lot of things, but it’s almost never convenient. There’s no reliable way to predict when people will pass on, so we tend to get caught up in other things. 

When a loved one is aging or in poor health, there’s always that thought in the back of our minds that says they’re not going to die today. On any given day, the odds are probably in our favor, but we have to be wrong eventually.

Who knows what we’re going to have on our schedule when it happens? Most employers will give you time off to attend funerals and mourn your loved ones, but other factors are less cooperative.

Flights home may be delayed due to storms. Roads may be inaccessible because of construction. Current circumstances being what they are, organizing a funeral safely will likely be difficult.

Cremation doesn’t have as many of these issues. We’ve already said that you don’t have to have a funeral with cremation. You also don’t have to act immediately. Urns are much smaller than caskets, so they’re easier to store until the family has decided what to do with the ashes.

Simplicity

Is it better to be buried or cremated? If simplicity is a factor, cremation is definitely better.

Traditional burials are more expensive, less environmentally-friendly, and under a tighter deadline. They’re also a lot more complicated.

Working out the details of a funeral can be just as stressful as figuring out how to pay for it. What kind of flowers do they like? What kind of clothes would they want to be buried in?

Your loved one may have made decisions about their funeral before they passed, but this is less likely if they died suddenly or unexpectedly. If you decide to bury them, these decisions will have to be made by you and your family.

Cremation simplifies at least a few decisions. You likely won’t need a headstone or a burial plot if you plan on keeping the ashes. You will have to pick out an urn, but urns weatherproofing is not an issue because it’s assumed you won’t keep it outside.

Is It Better to be Buried or Cremated?: A Guide

Is it better to be buried or cremated? This is an important question when dealing with the death of a loved one.

Many people choose cremation, and for many different reasons. We’ve mentioned a few of them in this article, but there are a whole host of other reasons to consider. If you want to learn more about them, we suggest you do more research.

If eco-friendly cremation and burial interests you please visit our site. We can give you more advice on how to be green after death.

Marlaena Gonzales

Marlaena Gonzales

Funeral Director
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