I think it's very personal. If ashes pollute the earth, I'm sorry. And I do everything I can to leave as low an impact on my planet as I can. I took a small amount of my husband's ashes to a beach in the BVI and buried them well above the water line. Twenty years later my daughter and I scattered the rest from a bridge,, into the Atlantic. Some of them accidentally got grounded on one of the bridge supports. I wanted to have his ashes poured into a concrete structure that would sustain coral growth but this was too expensive, over 20,000. My husband worked in animal conservation and the propagation of endangered reptile species. I kind of feel like he did enough good to deserve the right of having his ashes set free. And I garden so in growing food I'm giving backbinmy own small way. It's hard to be an earthling sometimes.