Do ashes pose a health or environmental hazard?
A. No, and neither does almost anything that’s been exposed to an oven heated to nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. What remains after a cremation are inert fragments of bone – mostly calcium. Crematories then pulverize the fragments into smaller pieces. Depending on the crematory, what you’ll get back will resemble anything from gray aquarium gravel to something like powdery concrete dust.