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A 2017 report by the Cremation Association of North America shows that for the first time, more Americans are choosing cremation than burials. A second report from the National Funeral Directors Association showed that in 2018, cremations accounted for fifty percent of the overall death care disposition for Americans. This number is expected to reach eighty five percent by the year 2035. As the cost of traditional funerals increase every year, more Americans are choosing cremation over traditional burial for their death care needs.
Cremation can cost one third or less the price of traditional funeral. Even a cremation with a full funeral service and or burial of an urn is much more cost effective than a traditional funeral with burial. Lakeside Funeral Home & Cremation Care with facilities located in Royal Palm Bach, Florida and serving the residents of West Palm Beach, Florida offers direct cremation packages starting at an affordable rate.
A direct cremation is the most cost effective type of cremation. In a direct cremation, the body is cremated directly after death. After the family signs a cremation authorization form. A family typically must wait twenty-four hours for the cremation to be performed. No traditional funeral and pre-funeral events like a wake are arranged, because of this, families typically do not need to engage the service of a funeral home. They do not need to purchase a casket, because bodies are cremated in simple containers, and they do not need to spend money on embalming. Finally, they do not need to purchase a burial site. In many cities, a direct cremation can be performed for under one thousand dollars, and prices do vary. After the cremation families can hold a memorial service. In most, cases the staff the crematory will handle all the aspects associated with a cremation. The funeral home will complete the death certificate and transport the body to the crematory. Even if families opt to hold a funeral service and engage a funeral home prior to cremation, in many cases, funeral homes offer rental caskets for the service. Bereaved families can save thousands of dollars by choosing cremation.
Religious acceptance is another factor in why Americans are moving towards cremation. Religions that once viewed cremation as morally wrong have changed their views. For most of its history, the Catholic Church had vehemently opposed cremation. Those who participated or authorized a cremation of another Catholic faced excommunication. This changed in 1963, when the church lifted its ban of cremation. The Catholic church now considers it acceptable for a Catholic to be cremated but it still prefers burial. Protestants have remained neutral about cremation. Some Protestant denominations view it as an acceptable method of disposition but still prefer burial. Other denominations are against it. Judaism and Islam are still both opposed to cremation.
Cremations are viewed as more environmentally friendly than traditional funerals and burials. The chemicals used in the embalming process and in the manufacturing of caskets. Can be harmful to the environment. Though there is concern that the cremation process can release harmful toxins into the air. Environmentally friendly cremations are becoming more popular. One of the newest types of green cremation is bio-cremation, or alkaline hydrolysis. This process uses water, potassium hydroxide, pressure, and a heat of thirty hundred- and fifty-degrees Fahrenheit to reduce the body to bone fragments and liquid. The bone fragments are then pulverized, placed in an urn or container and given to the family. The liquid is disposed of. Alkaline hydrolysis uses less energy and releases less carbon than an average cremation. Not all States have legalized Alkaline Hydrolysis, but the trend is in the direction of this greener form of disposition.
Lakeside Funeral Home & Cremation Care is a Family Owned and Operated establishment with over 19 years of Funeral Service Planning experience. Lakeside Funeral Home & Cremation Care provides complete funeral and cremation services that are custom-tailored for families of all religions and cultures throughout the local community.
Release ID: 508943