If you’ve given any thought to what you would like done with your remains after you’re gone, here’s an idea.
An Australian innovation developed by Melbourne-based ‘Living Legacy’ is allowing people the chance of having their remains placed under trees in memorial forests.
How does it work?
Cremated human remains contain high levels of sodium which can damage plants close to the burial site, but this new process involves adding microbes to human ashes to neutralise pH and sodium levels which then allows the ashes to be infused with soil around trees.
Australian Funeral Directors Association (AFDA) national vice president, Adrian Barrett says alternative burial techniques are being embraced by the industry as much as individuals who choose the alternatives over tradition funeral and burial techniques.
Mr Barrett says: “From pottery-glazed ashes to memorial forests or even shooting fireworks into the air, there are so many choices that people have to honour the life of their loved one.”
Janice Harris (pictured), from Worsley, in WA says, she held on to her late husband Colin’s ashes for 18 months before deciding on the soil infusion technique.
She says: “My husband was a farmer his whole life so this way he wasn’t in an urn in the ground, he was set free.”
I have to admit the idea has appeal – but that’s a ‘no’ to the fireworks.
