Green Burials

Americans are increasingly choosing “green” burials, and forgoing expensive caskets and many of the other extras associated with traditional funerals.

In doing so, families can often shave thousands of dollars off the end-of-life expenses for their loved one while also creating a true “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” burial.

Much of the savings is created by eliminating embalming, fancy caskets and the concrete casket vault, according to the national Funeral Consumers Alliance, which maintains a web page dedicated to green burials. The family can even provide its own shroud or wood coffin, which will reduce the price even further. The cost of a grave site and burial should range from about $1,000 to $4,000 for a body or from $200 to $1,000 for cremated remains.

Not all cemeteries will accept green burials, however, and some funeral homes will charge extra to handle a green funeral, according to the alliance. The group suggests $2,000 is a bit on the high side, but suggests you compare the cost for green burials to traditional burials to find out if you’re being quoted a fair price. Traditional funeral and burials average about $8,000, but can top $10,000 depending on a number of available extras.

While green or natural burials are enjoying a resurgence in popularity, they are not new and always has been the religious custom for both Jews and Muslims.

The goal of green funerals is exactly that of the often quoted ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” which is a paraphrase of Biblical teachings that is thought to have originated in the 1600s in a Church of England burial service. A completely natural, or green, burial will include no cremation or embalming fluids and the body will be placed in a biodegradable coffin of shroud. Complete decomposition of the body and a natural return to the soil is the goal.

Other than religious reasons, the alliance says people consider green burials to;

1. Conserve natural resources. Every year U.S. cemeteries bury more than 30 million feet of hardwood and 90,000 tons of steel in caskets, 17,000 tons of steel and copper in vaults, and 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete in vaults.
2. Eliminate hazardous chemicals. Eliminating the embalming process is the main attraction for some people. Embalming fluid contains formaldehyde, a respiratory irritant and known carcinogen, but funeral home employees across the country are exposed to about 5.3 million gallons of embalming fluid every year.
3. Preservation of natural areas. People often choose a meadow or forest guaranteed to be naturally preserved because of their love for nature. Many green-only cemeteries do not even allow fertilizer, pesticides or herbicides.

So far, only one company in the world appears to be marketing what it calls a “human seed pod,” that allows a human body to be placed in a biodegradable pod or egg shaped container, placed in the ground with a tree seedling protruding from the pod above the earth. The idea is that the tree will grow while receiving its nutrients from the decomposition of the body underneath. However, skeptics claim the company has not yet buried a human being in one of its pods. The company, located in Italy, appears to be fighting national burial laws in that country that do not allow for natural burials.

Some people consider cremation to be a form of green burial, but purists argue that point and we’ll address some of the cremation issues in another post.

In the meantime, you can take a look at some of the southern sites that allow for green burials. According to the

consumer alliance group, Georgia has two – one near Conyers and another near Milton. Alabama has five and Florida has six. South Carolina lists four green sites and North Carolina 10, while Tennessee boasts of five.

There websites, phone numbers and addresses can be found at https://www.nhfuneral.org/green-burial-cemeteries-in-the-us-and-canada.html.

Burial, like all end-of-life decisions, is very personal and a family should weigh their feelings about a green burial against the proximity of their loved one’s final resting spot.