Bradshaw Funeral and Cremation Services, a family-owned and operated business centralized in the Twin Cities, is the first funeral home firm in Minnesota to offer Green Cremation. Since 1972, we have focused on creating meaningful events to celebrate each unique life lived. As innovators in the funeral industry, we are committed to providing state-of-the-art services that distinguish us from other funeral providers.
That’s why we are proud to offer a gentle, flameless
alternative to traditional cremation.

Green Cremation is a gentle, eco-friendly alternative to flame-based cremation and casket burials. It is a quiet process that uses water and potassium hydroxide to reduce the body to it's basic element of bone ash. The ashes are then returned to the family. The process was adapted for funeral home use by the Mayo Clinic in its anatomy bequest program and is now becoming available to the general public. Green Cremation is the first and only firm in Minnesota to provide this revolutionary service.

Green Cremation is an extremely environmentally-friendly choice - even greener than flame based cremation - because there are almost zero air emissions admitted into the atmosphere during this process. Green Cremation offers the following environmental advantages over traditional flame-based cremation:

• No vaporized mercury emissions and no filtration or abatement systems required. Mercury from dental amalgam is contained and recycled not vaporized.
• Caskets are not burned, which protects our natural resources and produces less CO2.
• Low carbon footprint: 4x less carbon impact versus traditional flame cremation. Green cremation also reduces the use of fossil fuels and minimizes greenhouse gases.
• Energy efficient: 1/8 the energy usage versus traditional flame cremation.
• By-product (effluent) is safe with no harmful chemical or microbial contamination.
• Preserves 20+% more bone fragments than traditional flame cremation.
• Embalming fluid is neutralized and cytotoxic drugs are destroyed in the process.
• Pacemakers do not need to be surgically removed prior to the process.
• Medical implants are unaffected and can possibly be recycled.

The sterile by-product (effluent) from Green Cremation which is made up of small peptides, sugars, amino acids, and soaps is sent to water recycling through municipal water treatment where it is filtered, purified and recycled back to earth either through the aquifer, lakes, streams and non potable water use. In essence, the body is recycled without harm to the environment. With Green Cremation, we return to the earth through a cycle of life, helping to promote new life as nature intended it to occur.