Eco Friendly Funeral Options: Green Burial, Aquamation, and More

Why Traditional Funerals Are an Environmental Problem

A conventional burial in the US involves embalming the body with formaldehyde (a known carcinogen), sealing it in a hardwood or metal casket, lowering it into a concrete vault, and covering it with six feet of earth. Each year, American cemeteries bury approximately 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid, 20 million board feet of hardwood, 1.6 million tons of concrete, and 17,000 tons of copper and bronze.

Flame cremation is lighter on materials but heavy on energy: a single cremation burns natural gas at roughly 1,800°F for 90 minutes to two hours, releasing approximately 540 pounds of carbon dioxide plus trace mercury from dental amalgam.

Neither option is catastrophic on its own, but at scale — across the millions of deaths in the US each year — the environmental cost is substantial. Greener alternatives exist, and most of them cost less.

Green (Natural) Burial

The body is buried without embalming, without a concrete vault, and without a metal casket. It is wrapped in a biodegradable shroud (cotton, linen, wool, or hemp) or placed in a simple container made of unfinished wood, wicker, or cardboard. The grave is dug to a shallower depth — typically three to four feet — placing the body in the aerobically active soil layer where natural decomposition happens efficiently.

Cost: $2,000 to $6,000 in the US, £1,500 to £4,500 in the UK. Often cheaper than conventional burial because the most expensive components (casket, vault, embalming) are eliminated.

Legal status: Legal in all 50 US states and widely available in the UK. Some cemeteries require a vault regardless — these are private cemetery policies, not state laws. Natural burial grounds and conservation cemeteries accept un-vaulted interments by design.

Limitations: Most natural burial grounds prohibit conventional headstones. Graves are marked with flat fieldstones, GPS coordinates, native plantings, or nothing at all. Families who want a traditional grave to visit may find this difficult.

The Green Burial Council certifies cemeteries and burial providers at three levels (hybrid, natural, conservation). Their directory is the most reliable way to find a legitimate green burial site.

Alkaline Hydrolysis (Aquamation)

The body is placed in a pressurized steel vessel containing approximately 95% water and 5% alkali (potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide). The vessel heats the solution to roughly 150°C under pressure, preventing boiling. Over 3 to 16 hours, the solution reduces all soft tissue to a sterile liquid of amino acids, peptides, and salts. Only the sterile bone fragments remain, which are processed into a fine powder and returned to the family — similar in appearance to flame cremation ashes but whiter.

Environmental advantage: Roughly 90% lower carbon footprint than flame cremation and one-eighth the energy consumption.

Cost: $2,500 to $5,000 in the US, £2,000 to £3,500 in the UK.

Legal status: Legal in 26 US states as of 2026, with legislative efforts active in several more. Availability is expanding in the UK and Canada. The main barrier is not public opposition but the need for specialised facilities and regulated water discharge permits.

Natural Organic Reduction (Human Composting)

The body is placed in a steel cylinder alongside organic materials — alfalfa, straw, and wood chips. Over a 30-day period, naturally occurring microbes and regulated warm air flow transform the body and organic material into approximately one cubic yard of nutrient-rich soil. The family can use this soil on private land, in a garden, or to plant a tree.

Cost: $4,000 to $7,000 (US only).

Legal status: Legal in a growing number of US states — Washington, Colorado, Oregon, California, New York, and Vermont were among the first. Not legal in the UK.

Limitations: Very few facilities exist, which can mean long transport distances. The process takes about 30 days, so the family waits longer for remains than with cremation or aquamation.

Direct Cremation with a Memorial Later

Not the greenest option on this list, but by far the most accessible. The body is cremated without a prior viewing or chapel service. No embalming, no rental casket, no ceremony at the crematory. The ashes are returned to the family, who then hold a celebration of life at a time and place of their choosing.

Cost: $2,000 to $3,000.

Environmental angle: Eliminating embalming and a hardwood casket removes the most material-intensive parts of a conventional funeral. The cremation itself still produces carbon emissions, but the overall footprint is significantly smaller than a full-service burial.

This approach also decouples the logistical urgency (the body needs to be handled within days) from the emotional event (the memorial can happen weeks or months later), giving families more time to plan something meaningful.

Memorial Trees

After cremation or aquamation, families can mix the ashes with soil and use them to nurture a memorial tree. This is a popular choice, but there is an important chemical reality: human cremation ashes are primarily calcium phosphate with a highly alkaline pH of 11 to 12 and high sodium content. Applied directly to a young tree's root system, they can stress or kill it.

The solution is to mix the ashes with an acidic compost or a commercial neutralising additive (such as RootProtect from The Living Urn) before planting. This buffers the pH and allows the nutrients — phosphorus, potassium, calcium — to nourish the tree gradually rather than burning the roots.

Comparing the Options

Planning an Eco-Friendly Service

Our Secular Humanist Funeral Guide includes a disposition comparison worksheet, a vendor comparison sheet, and a budget tracker to help you evaluate your options and coordinate the logistics. It covers the practical steps — legal requirements, body preservation without embalming, and how to work with funeral directors who may default to conventional services.