Caring for Your Remains

Why Does Weight Matter?

Although we often emphasize in fat liberation that weight is not the most important thing about a person, when it comes to preparing your body after death, measurements matter. One of the most important pieces of information–and one of the hardest details for some people to share–is how much the deceased weighs. The proportions of your body may also need to be considered even when weight is not a factor in the options available

Every body can be handled by the mortuary industry, but heavier or larger bodies sometimes require special procedures. This can be especially challenging for people who live in places where mortuary services are limited (e.g. a small town with only one funeral home). Identifying who will handle your body after death allows you or your loved ones to ask questions in advance about what accommodations need to be made.

"I know it's not easy for everyone to have the conversation about size or weight, especially if it's been traumatic or difficult in the past, but being willing to talk about your loved one's size can alleviate so much stress for all involved when planning a funeral. Consider being up front about being fat, in your death plan while you're still alive... Both sides, the family and the funeral home, need to be able to have a respectful, honest, transparent discussion about the dead person's size and what that's going to mean about the burial or cremation."

- Caitlin Dougherty, Ask A Mortician

What Are the Available CHOICES?

When it comes to a permanent resting place for your remains, there are several legal options available in the United States. The majority of people in the U.S. will be buried or cremated after their death. Many people do not know that there are additional options. We’ve outlined the options below, including some considerations for each. Some of the options available may depend on where you live. State regulations regarding body disposal vary, especially if you are considering alternatives to burial and cremation.

Many available options require a container of some kind, typically, a casket or coffin. No state law requires the use of a casket/coffin for burial, but funeral home and/or cemetery policy may require one. Although the terms casket and coffin are often used interchangeably, a coffin is larger at the shoulders and smaller at the feet, while a casket is rectangular. A standard casket/coffin size is 24-27 inches wide. Larger caskets/coffins cost up to 30% more, and fewer choices are available. Some fat people will want or need to have a custom container built, especially if their personal or religious traditions include displaying the container at a funeral or memorial.

The following information is presented to help fat folks and their families understand the various price increases, logistical concerns and other factors to consider as we weigh our options for how to care for our bodies after death.

GO to:

Burial

cremation

green burial

aquamation

Human Composting

Donating Body to Science

Additional Resources

Comment and Contribute

Burial

Transporting a large casket can cost twice as much.

A standard casket is 24-27 inches wide. Larger casket plots can cost up to 30% more.
Cemeteries often require the purchase of two plots for caskets, as many cemeteries were not built to accommodate plot extension. The use of crypts or vaults may also require additional space or planning.
In a standard cemetery, burying a very fat person can cost $800-$3000 more.
Considerations may need to be made for transportation of the burial vessel (e.g. Pallbearers, lowering of the vessel, etc.)

Cremation

Many crematoriums charge additional costs for people over 300 Pounds Standard cremation chamber doors measure 33 inches, but XL cremation machines have openings as wide as 43 and 52 inches.

XL machines can accommodate bodies up to 1000 pounds.
Additional costs in cremation:
- Transportation costs if the deceased has to be transported to the nearest oversize crematory facility (this is generally an additional per mile mileage fee)
- The extra cost for an oversize cremation container
- “Excess weight” cremation charge
State laws vary regarding what is legally allowable for the disposal of ashes after cremation.

Green Burial

Green (or natural) burial emphasizes simplicity and environmental sustainability. The body is neither cremated nor prepared with chemicals such as embalming fluids. It is simply placed in a biodegradable coffin or shroud and interred without a concrete burial vault. The grave site is allowed to return to nature. The goal is complete decomposition of the body and its natural return to the soil.

Some of the same considerations made for traditional burial (coffin size, burial plots, transportation fees, etc.) will still need to be taken into account when choosing green burial
Laws and regulations around green burial vary state to state.

Aquamation

Aquamation—sometimes called alkaline hydrolysis —is an environmentally friendly alternative to fire cremation. It is a water-based process that reduces the remains to dust/ash. The Aquamation process takes place in a pressurized chamber over about 8 hours. During the process, the remains are placed in an airtight capsule with alkalized water where water flow breaks down the organic material. When the process is completed, the bone remains are collected, go through a drying process, and are then processed and returned to deceased’s loved ones.

Typical aquamation equipment has a weight capacity of up to 500 pounds. However, body composition/girth may limit the ability to place the deceased in the aquamation chamber, so the ability to accommodate larger corpses must be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Aquamation chambers that accommodate bodies above 500+ do exist but are not widely available.
Prior to aquamation, the funeral home handling the remains may have weight/size-specific limitations that need to be taken into account.
Disposal of aquamation remains are subject to the same legal requirements as crematory remains.

At the time of this publication, aquamation is legal for humans in the following states: Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming.

Human Composting

Human composting is the gentle transformation of a human body into soil. The body is placed into a stainless steel vessel along with wood chips, alfalfa, and straw. Naturally-occurring microbes transform the body into soil over the next 30 days. The soil is then removed from the vessel, screened for non-organic items (for example, medical implants), tested for safety, and allowed to dry and cure for an additional two to four weeks. Once the soil is complete after six to eight weeks, loved ones can either take it home for use on trees and plants, or donate it to conservation efforts. Each body creates one cubic yard of soil amendment. [1]

Human composting is currently legal in Washington State, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, and California. There is only one funeral home in the U.S. that offers this option, Recompose in Seattle, Washington.

Human composting is available for bodies up to 530 lbs.
Transporting the body to and from the Recompose facility is only included in the cost for three local counties. Anyone else will need to arrange with a funeral home local to them to have the body transported to Seattle and the remains transported back. As with other options, there may be additional costs for transporting a larger body.
Disposal of remains are subject to state requirements.

Donating Body to Science

Bodies that are donated must be less than 6-feet in height and weigh 200- 250 lbs max.

Some organizations require that you pre-register in order to donate your body.
Most organizations will cover transportation costs, though you may still have to pay them if you live outside a certain area.
It is not possible to hold a viewing or conduct a funeral for the donor due to time constraints when donating your body to science, though a funeral home may be able to help you arrange a memorial service.
The facility will handle disposal of remains, usually cremating them, upon completion of research. Some facilities will offer to return the cremated remains, though this is not always the case.

Additional Resources

Whatever methods you or your loved ones choose for handling your remains after your death, the more information you have in advance, the easier it will be to manage the logistical pieces of your death plans. The following links are shared for information only. NAAFA does not endorse these organizations or resources, and we cannot be held responsible for your experiences. We remind our fat community that many of the resources available use terminology that some may find objectionable (medicalized or other problematic language for fat bodies).

Green Burial Cemeteries in the US and Canada

Ask A Mortician | Dying Fat: Your Funeral Options

The Fat Lip Podcast: Let's Talk About Fat Death

The Order Of The Good Death

National Funeral Directors Association