Photo: Supplied / Davis Funerals
People in the business of death would like the Burial and Cremation Act 1964 updated, saying it hasn't kept up with changes in technology.
They also said there are no clear rules around what to do with ashes no one collects.
About five years ago, there was public consultation about updating the legislation, but nothing has happened since.
Kapiti Funeral Homes managing director Andrew Malcolm told Checkpoint it is very common for families not to pick up ashes.
"It's one of those things that often in a will, for instance, you're asked if you want burial or cremation, but it's not common for that next question, which is what do you want to do with your ashes?"
"As a funeral director, obviously, we do that when we're talking with the family beforehand or at the time of the death, but at the time of the death it often becomes too hard."
He said after the funeral when there's less pressure, family members may return home.
"The decision makers go to different parts of the motu or even overseas and that decision isn't not made."
They have a staff member whose sole job is to keep on top of urns that have been sitting on the shelf for a long time.
"We try not to hound people, but at the same time, at the time of the funeral, they say, oh, can we make that decision later we go. Yes, we'll get our lovely lady to ring you if we haven't heard from you within a couple of months."
"The decision makers, as I said, have often dispersed at that point, who then makes that decision that goes around emails back and forwards discussions?"
He said although there is information provided by funeral homes and the National Office on what to do with ashes, he would like to see a clear legal directive.
"The cremation regulations, which are 52-years-old, almost as bad as the Burial Cremation Act. There is a part on disposal of ashes, there are six clear points and none of them talk about what to do with ashes other than if they're not collected from the crematorium."
"The answer they have is just ridiculous. It's that they will enter them in a plot somewhere, which they're not going to do, because who's going to pay for the plot? Where are they going to enter them? They're just going to get in big trouble if they do that, so they don't."
Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
In the Burial and Cremation Act, the only directives are to have respect for other's property and have a think about where people scatter them.
"We have a lot of people coming back years later that are going well it said on the records they were scattered in the bush."
"We would really like to go somewhere and reflect or have a point of reference to go back to, and there's not."
He said an unusual dispersal he was part of was one of the first New Zealand female helicopter pilots.
"I scattered the first New Zealand female helicopters ashes via helicopter, over the Tararua ranges."
Other ways other than burning cremation in New Zealand aren't allowed, he said.
"There are layers in New Zealand, you've got your local regulation, and if you can comply with those who's to say you can't do water cremation?"
"We were approached by the Law Commission back in 2010 to start looking at reviewing all those regulations and we worked quite thoroughly with them to get a really robust group of regulation that was up to date, and of course it then just sits on a shelf."
He said a type of cremation he would like to see made legal is human composting.
"That sounds pretty horrible, and they have a very fancy name for it. But actually, that's sort of quite Kiwi in a sense if you could compost the body down and then put it into a nice small space where you could put a tree or a plant on it."
He said he has an issue with water cremation as it involves bone being needed to be dispersed.
"It's basically very similar to cremation that uses alkaline hydrolysis to actually turn the deceased into just brittle bone. That bone is then ground if you like, down to ash. So, you end up with ash just like you would with a fire cremation."
"My problem with that is just how do you disperse that in water? They are working on ways of perhaps leaving it in the cemetery grounds, somehow building a little pile."
A Spokesperson for Minister of Health Simeon Brown said the Ministry made some non-regulatory changes following its public consultation on the Burials and Cremation Act 1964.
These include an online death certification process and updated guidance to support practitioners.
The Ministry has begun re-assessing policy work on the review of the act - and will also begin a review of the Cremation Regulations 1973 this year.
The Minister looks forward to receiving advice on the improvements that can be made to the regulations in due course.
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