Rates of people choosing cremation over burial rising

In the past few years, the choice of cremations over burials has been gradually rising in Southland.

Avenal Park Funeral Home owner and registered funeral director Nigel Edwards said the Covid-19 pandemic had been one of the reasons, but the other reason was that people were becoming more environmentally conscious.

‘‘Right around the country it’s gone up, probably . . . 65 cremations to 35 burials on average.

‘‘They’re very conscious of what’s happening around the world, and in New Zealand for climate change and all that,’’ he said.

Edwards said some other environmentally-friendly options that are taking effect around the world were acid baths, freezing and aquamation (dissolving the corpse in water and lye).

The acid bath is similar to being cremated, as only the bones are leftover, which have to go through a ‘cremulator’ to be crushed, he said.

Even though they are not available in New Zealand yet, he believed they would eventually be available throughout the country.

There was also options for natural burials. ‘‘There’s natural burials where you could be buried with a tree . . . in the sense of you’d actually be in like a sack with a tree, and you become the food for that tree at the start.

‘‘There is a natural area in Invercargill where we’ve had one burial,’’ Edwards said.

The Invercargill City Council own the official crematorium for Southland, and it had become more environmentally conscious about the urns.

Invercargill City Council parks and recreation manager Caroline Rain said: ‘‘Invercargill City Council switched to wooden urns earlier this year as part of our commitment to sustainability. The urns are made in New Zealand from untreated pine sourced from sawmills that have Forest Stewardship Council Chain of Custody Certification and are very environmentally friendly.’’

The wood disintegrates more naturally if they decide to bury it, Edwards said.

Avenal Park Funeral Home now also provide various options for cremated remains because of its rising popularity, such as crafted wooden urns, jewellery and biodegradable urns.