The Afterlife of Cremated Orthopedic Implants

What happens to joint replacements after an individual is cremated?

Adelaide reporter Brett Williamson reported on how that situation is dealt with in Australia. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare a total of 72, 551 hip and knee replacement operations were performed in Australia in 2013-2014.

Following a cremation, Williamson reported, staff run a magnet over the ashes to remove any metal. However, because titanium does not melt down, the replacement joints must be removed manually. Twice a year the local crematoriums in Australia send their retrieved joints to Melbourne where they are combined into one big shipment that is sent to the Netherlands.

Williamson said that there is a company called OrthoMetals that has a recycling facility for metals that come from implanted joint replacements. In one year the Dutch company does just over five tons of recycled metals. The service is provided free of charge to crematoriums and every six months a percentage of revenue raised from the recycled metals is given back. Williamson reported that the Adelaide Cemetery Association receives about $12, 000 a year from the recycling program.

While devices made of metal are relatively harmless to pass through the cremation process, others, such as pacemakers, can be dangerous and can explode. Robert Pitt, chief executive of the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority, said, “The exploding battery can do quite a lot of damage inside a cremator and makes a very loud noise if it is not removed.”