What is Direct Cremation?
Direct cremation, which involves cremating a body immediately after death without having it embalmed or put into a casket, has gained attention of late. Also known as the green cremation, it is said to be more environmentally friendly than regular cremation, which still allows the use of a casket for viewing, or the traditional burial which, on top of the embalming and its adverse effects to the soils, requires the use of a coffin. Any form of cremation still receives flack for air pollution but many argue that this is still better than burying an embalmed body to the ground.
Statistics have shown that with the present rate of population turnover, cemetery lots will not be able to accommodate the number of deceased bodies a few decades from now.
Cremation will become more and more practical especially with the vast number of trees being allocated to the manufacture of caskets alone. Add to that the amount of steel and other materials.
On the other hand, a regular cremation is said to emit harmful gases into the air. Because direct cremation skips the process of embalming the body, lesser pollutants are said to be released. Thus, direct cremation has been hailed to be greener than a burial or cremation.
