Astro Bug

POTOMAC, Md. - AstroBug -- Buried in Work Charitable, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has launched RetURN.org IDs to help families answer questions that can become harder with time: Whose cremated remains are inside this container, and what should happen to them when no one with a personal connection is willing or able to keep them?

RetURN.org connects a permanent physical ID on an urn to a public online page containing identifying information and instructions for the remains. The program supports urns holding both human and pet cremated remains. Anyone can scan the ID to view the page without an app, an account, or opening the container.

"An urn can outlast everyone who knows whose remains are inside," said Adam Zuckerman, founder of Buried in Work. "Families shouldn't have to guess about something this personal. RetURN.org helps keep the identity and instructions with the urn, even when the people who knew the story are no longer around."

Families can record the person's or pet's identity, a preferred plan for the remains, and a backup choice. The page can also include funeral provider or crematory information. Those details give future family members and other custodians a place to begin when an urn changes hands during a move, an estate cleanout, or the death of the person who had been keeping it.

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The program addresses three basic questions:

• Does this container hold cremated remains?
• Whose remains are inside?
• What should happen to the remains when someone can no longer keep them?

RetURN.org offers adhesive metal IDs for existing urns and works with urn manufacturers to incorporate IDs directly through printing or engraving. Funeral homes and cremation providers can also offer IDs to the families they serve.

"Keeping someone's ashes at home may feel straightforward today. The harder question is what happens after the person keeping them dies," Zuckerman said. "That applies to beloved pets, too. Recording a name and a plan now can spare someone else a difficult decision years later."

A mailed RetURN.org ID with activation costs $29.99. Families who already have an unactivated ID can activate it online for $19.99. Neither option requires a subscription.

Families, funeral and cremation providers, and urn manufacturers can learn more at RetURN.org.