Vt. funeral home first in the state to use water cremation

MILTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont offers a variety of burial methods and alternatives, now including a greener way to honor your loved ones.

The vast majority of Vermonters opt for flame cremation – the traditional form we’ve all heard of.

A funeral home out of Milton is the first in Vermont to cremate using water.

Jonathan Daponte of Minor Funeral Home cracks open Vermont’s very first water cremation machine.

“I wanted to be the forerunner of innovation,” he said.

Other funeral homes send bodies out of state for water cremation, but Minor Funeral Home will do it on-site.

“There’s an intrinsic value to families where knowing their loved one doesn’t get transported to another facility. Everything is done here in-house,” said Daponte.

Crews are hooking everything up and finalizing the space, and Daponte says he’s already got families asking about the new option.

Water cremation – or alkaline hydrolysis – uses water, an alkaline solution, heat, and pressure to dissolve the soft tissue of the body.

“After that, the remaining material is going to be dehydrated, and then after that, it’s going to be pulverized to the same consistency so that everyone can see what you would see in the typical cremains,” said Daponte.

Water cremation takes longer than flame cremation and costs several hundred dollars more, but has a much smaller carbon footprint.

Flame cremation can release over 500 pounds of CO2, or the equivalent of driving 600 miles. On the other hand, water cremation releases at least 90% less emissions.

Local experts point out that natural burial and human composting have even smaller carbon footprints, but water cremation is a step in the right direction.

“Alkaline hydrolysis is an improvement over flame cremation. We’ll see what happens as the technology improves. And we’ll see, you know, where that fits in the spectrum,” said Lee Webster of Vermont Funeral.

Daponte says the expensive machine, over $300,000, and the higher customer price tag keep other homes from investing in water cremation.

As the state searches for ways to curb emissions, he believes water cremation is the way of the future.

“I can foresee this in 50 years being the only choice you have,” said Daponte.

Daponte says he’s done one water cremation so far and is receiving calls for others.

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