Are People’s Ashes Mixed Together in Cremation Services?

When using cremation services for the body of a loved one that has passed away, it can be daunting to learn about the new experience. It’s not uncommon that people are concerned about ashes of other bodies being mixed in with their loved one's, especially given the high turnover of cremations that can happen anywhere in Australia. Between 56 and 70 per cent of Queenslanders are opting for cremation services.

However, at Whitsunday Funerals and Crematorium we can assure you that your loved one’s ashes are not mixed with anyone else’s.

The Cremation Process

Our cremation process is straight forward and in total compliance with all public health regulations and the Queensland Cremations Regulation 2014. Before cremation, we remove all metal and electrical devices from the body to ensure uniformity and that there is no danger or risks.

We place the body in a coffin of your choosing and move it to the crematorium to be part of the process. All handles, flowers and personal belongings remain with your loved one and are cremated as one. By using one coffin per body and identifying each person with a metal plate, we ensure that only one person is cremated at a time. Combined with our rigorous checks and monitoring, our clients can feel at ease knowing that they are receiving the right cremains of their loved one.

Next, we load the coffin into the crematorium which is set between 760 to 1090 degrees Celcius. The burning period lasts approximately two hours to ensure a complete and thorough burn of everything contained within the coffin.

Because we’re big believers in innovation and implementing new ways of doing things in this age-old industry, we have acquired a state of the art cremator. Our new cremator is specifically designed to heat and cool very quickly. This means that we can quickly and thoroughly remove each person’s cremains without undue time pressure or turnover requirements, adding even more assurance that the ashes you are collecting belong solely to your loved one.

‘Because we’re big believers in innovation and implementing new ways of doing things in this age-old industry, we have acquired a state of the art cremator.’

The entire process, from preparing the body to when the urn is delivered to you, is monitored by seasoned funeral directors to ensure that you never have to worry.

What Happens With Other Cremation Services?

Whitsunday Funerals and Crematorium is one of the very few local crematoriums owning and operating this style of low volume cremator in the Bowen, Proserpine and Mackay areas, which adheres to a stringent policy of allocating individual ashes. You’ll discover other crematoriums have such a high output that they are not able to provide the same guarantee. Some can even process up to thirty bodies a day.

These high volume crematoriums utilise an old brick system which not only takes a long time to heat and cool but is also notoriously tricky when it comes to recovering an individual loved one’s ashes. Unfortunately, this means that with those crematoriums, there is a strong possibility the ashes of your beloved may be mixed with those of other souls.

And, upsettingly, there are even cases when crematoriums can misplace ashes.

How Can You Be Sure?

If you’re unsure whether a crematorium is providing just the ashes of your loved one, then we recommend asking a few basic questions about their cremation services to help you seek the assurance you need. These questions can include:

  1. What is your cremation process?
  2. Can we look behind the scenes?
  3. Are we able to view the cremation as it occurs to say our final goodbye?
  4. Do you use a third party for your cremation services?
  5. How many cremations do you perform each day or week?

 

Meeting with a funeral director at the time of making funeral arrangements and asking these questions, will help you get a clearer picture of a crematorium’s processes.

Consistently, we share local family values and have found that the best way to help other families in the Whitsunday area is by ensuring that they don’t have to worry about the authenticity of their loved one’s ashes in their time of need. Be sure to compare us to notice the difference in cost-effectiveness and a higher level of service.

No matter how you choose to dispose of your loved one’s remains, their memories will never be lost and their mark on the world won’t be forgotten.

 

Contact us today to discuss our cremation services.