In the early 1990s, England had a cremation rate of nearly 98%, raising concerns about fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, land was purchased and rapidly developed. Green burials were born out of a desire to reduce environmental impact while protecting and preserving natural areas across the country. Rosehill is a 68-acre multi-denominational cemetery divided into sections to meet different needs. One of the sections is a meadow for green burials. The location also offers traditional burial and multiple cremation options. She said interest in green burials is rooted in concern for the environment, but also in a “lack of conventional faith” and an “aversion to morbid and dark rows of tombstones.” It is estimated that around eight per cent of the more than 150,000 funerals that take place in the UK each year are now green burials. Obviously, there are stranger things you can do – legally – with your body than returning it to nature or sending it gloriously to Valhalla. In addition, these chemicals can enter the surrounding soil and water during decomposition. Therefore, embalming in a green burial is not allowed.

However, green burials involve the natural processes of decomposition after death and accept that a body must disintegrate in order to reintegrate its basic elements into the earth. Read our detailed article on the cost of green funerals and the cost of green funeral alternatives. However, Sky`s funerals are generally illegal in the United States. The Texas Funeral Service Commission, for example, requires that human remains be “buried, buried, or cremated.” When animals collect human remains, they sometimes carry away parts of the body that could contaminate groundwater and other resources. Direct burials can take place in a green funeral cemetery or in a regular cemetery. Therefore, it can be a great way for someone to make a standard funeral greener. It can also be inexpensive, as many of these services and maintenance practices are expensive. Some Catholic cemeteries charge several thousand dollars for a single piece of land.

Other institutions have cheaper options, but they charge a fee for night and weekend funerals. Traditional burials have a significant impact on the environment. They use resources that could be used to build houses and other important buildings. Farrar bought land for her husband – and also for herself – at Cobourg Union Cemetery, which has been offering green burials since October 2009. The area is set in a tranquil lawn overlooking a river (and a nine-hole golf course). According to Michel Cabardos, the superintendent of the cemetery, 48 people are buried there. Flame cremation is available in all Canadian provinces and aquamation is available in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec. In the United States, you can see here the legality and availability of aquamation from one state to another. The first law to legalize this process was passed in Washington State in 2019 and went into effect in 2020. Similar bills have been introduced in other U.S. states. However, the process is currently not legal in Canada, although an advocacy group in Ontario is working towards this goal.

There is a company in Washington State called Return Home that offers Canadians human composting, or what they call “terramation.” Learn more about human composting in our guide: What is human composting? One of the most common questions I hear about the Human Remains Act is whether a person can choose a method of disposition other than burial or cremation in the United States. In episode #5 of our web series #TalkDeath, Lee Webster and I were asked about the legality of tibetan celestial burial, whether a body was mummified or turned into an articulated skeleton and displayed in a house, or, my favorite, a Viking funeral (also known as the House of Tully funeral for Game of Thrones fans). The first official green cemetery was established in the late 1990s in the United States. Since then, more than 300 green funeral sites have been available in the United States and Canada. (See this map of the green tombs). The green funeral process is legal in all U.S. states, however, local laws and regulations are used to regulate the process. For example, some state laws require bodies to cool or embalm for more than 24 hours. Nevertheless, green burials and associated green burial options are widely used and accessible in the United States.

Green cemeteries have also sprung up around the world in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Other countries on other continents are also working to legalize ecological burial practices and allow their use. Sustainability is also crucial for green burials. For this reason, many green cemeteries aim to reuse land over time. In Canada and the United States, perpetual burial rights are common, which means that if you buy a funeral property, the land will forever be yours and your descendants. Green burials change this idea. The funeral home is a limited resource, so the graves are reused over time in the green funeral cemetery. This can alleviate the limited space in traditional cemeteries, especially in urban areas. Celestial burials, as u/coltpython mentioned, are a common practice among people of Zoroastrian faith who believe that the burial of bodies pollutes the earth. Instead, when someone dies, their body is mounted on a dakhma, a “tower of silence,” in which vultures feed on the body. A representation of celestial burials at Litang Monastery (Photo by Antoine Taveneaux) Read more about the subject here: What is embalming and is it required by law for a funeral in Canada? Because green burials consume far fewer resources and services, they cost between $3,000 and $5,000.

The majority of costs come from green cemetery fees and biodegradable coffin or shroud costs ($100 to $1,500 and above). In comparison, traditional funerals cost between $6,000 and $12,000. Direct burials by cremation or aquamation cost $1,000 to $4,000, depending on the products and services used and the choice of a simple or more decorative urn. The world market leader in this regard is Great Britain. Concerned that cremation accounted for more than 90% of the disposal of corpses, activists in the UK began promoting green burials. Rosie Inman-Cook, director of the Natural Death Centre in Winchester, England, estimates that there are now more than 300 green funeral sites across the UK. However, some provinces have cemeteries that offer green elements, such as the adoption of biodegradable coffins, shrouds and urns. * Notes on Saskatchewan and Manitoba: There is a small, private, green cemetery on a hill in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but it is full.

In addition, three cemeteries in Winnipeg (Brookside, St. Vital and Transcona) allow green burials in existing funeral sections. Traditional burials often use chemical forms of preservation on a body to slow the effects of decomposition. This serves to preserve a body long enough to make it presentable for a visit or visit. Prince Edward Island tends to have lower rates than other provinces. In general, cemeteries prefer traditional or basic Hebrew burials. A plot with a headstone can cost less than $2,500. A celestial burial or Viking burial is a traditional “burial method” in foreign or ancient cultures that the deceased specifically requested and accepted. A few years ago, Olson received significant support from an Albertan woman who had read articles about her work in Victoria and asked her if there were similar places in Edmonton.