Question 1 – You take them out of the casket and use it again, don’t you?
Answer 1 – No! The cremator must be heated to over 540 degrees before loading, to ensure clean air discharge. The casket (by law) is the “suitable receptacle” for placing the deceased safely and with dignity into the cremator.

Question 2 – Surely it would be more economic to cremate more than one at a time?
Answer 2 – No! It is unethical and the cremator is not designed for more than one. Doing so would cause dangerous temperature spikes. The cremator is computer controlled—we can even start it remotely to reach the correct loading temperature. Throughout the process the system constantly adjusts gas and airflow to maintain a narrow, safe range. Adding another person would make this impossible and breach our strict air discharge licence.

Question 3 – You don’t really get their ashes back, do you? How would you know?
Answer 3 – Yes! This is a careful, documented process. Just before loading, the casket nameplate is removed and placed on the receiving tray. After cremation, the cremains, as they are then known, are carefully swept into a steel box and taken to the processing station. Metal fragments are removed with a magnet, and the cremains are placed in a processing pot where blunt arms turn them to fine ash. The nameplate remains with the cremains throughout this process, and placed in or on the urn returned to the family, ensuring there is never a mix-up.

Question 4 – Can you be cremated without a coffin/casket in New Zealand?
Answer 1 – No! in New Zealand, a coffin is required for cremation, but it doesn’t have to be a traditional one; a any combustible wood cremation container can be used instead. A container is necessary for sanitary, practical, and safety reasons, as crematoriums require the body to be in a rigid, leak-proof, and combustible enclosure to manage the cremation process and health and safety regulations.

Question 5 – Do you take things out of the body first like Gold teeth, metal pin, plates and joints etc?
Answer 1 – No! Nothing is taken out of the body, except cardiac pacemakers which are just under the skin. This is done as it has a battery, which is not conducive to the life of the cremator. Gold in teeth just melts into the brick work, and pins and plates survive the cremation process and are sent for recycling, occasionally families want these returned.

AND: – Please remember no question is to strange, just ask us and we are more than happy to
answer anything!