There are two main products used in every funeral – a receptacle for the body and chemicals to preserve the body. If you’re thinking of going green, these are the two things you’ll need to address with any funeral directors you work with.

At the risk of being a little tactless, coffins are expensive. Just a few weeks ago now, I clearly remember walking down to the show room at the funeral home with my mother to look at the options they had for my grandmother and thinking “what the what?!?” we’re just going to put this thing in the ground forever.

Now, on the flip side, I do think that you sort of want to give the person who has passed the sort of send off you know they’d want. In a way, I think that’s part of the catharsis for the folks left behind. If we’d given my grandmother a green burial, she would’ve haunted me. My grandma liked some of the nicer things in life and we knew we had to give her the sort of send off that the lounge lizards in her old apartment complex would talk about with approval… and that meant a traditional coffin.

Coming in at a hefty nearly $4,000. I mean, is there literally any other time in life that it does not seem like madness to bury $4,000 in the ground? I was slightly horrified when the funeral director tried to steer my mom towards the one she helped picked out for grandfather ten years earlier to see that it was even more expensive than that.

Not only that, but as I stood among the caskets, all I could think about was how much they look like tiny little tanks. I felt like a bomb could go off and those things might still be ok – a little charred, but ok. How on earth could that possibly be good for the ground it was going into?

Seems like quite a few steps away from “ashes to ashes and dust to dust.” We’re still fighting all notions of death and decay even after we die. But that’s a philosophical post for another day.

Fun Fact: Did you know that in the UK there is actually a difference between a coffin and a casket (terms we use interchangeably in the US)? A casket is what we think of as a coffin – a hefty, silk lined, top opens for a viewing, never see the feet box. And you are quite well off if you are buried in one, as they are even more expensive over there. Most people are buried in coffins – of the 1850’s Midwest undertaker or Dracula-looking variety. And they are very reasonably priced.

Body Receptacles

So, what makes a casket, urn or shroud “green”? Here is how the Green Burial Council defines it:

• Finishes and adhesives do not release toxic-by-products within the facility where product in manufactured.
• Finishes and adhesives do not contain plastics, acrylics, or similar synthetic polymeric materials.
• Shell is made from materials harvested in an environmentally sustainable manner as certified by a third-party trust provider recognized by GBC or from reclaimed/recycled materials.
• Product utilizes a liner that is compromised of “organic” material as certified by a third-party trust provider recognized by the GBC.
• Neither the transportation of any components material to manufacturing location nor the transportation of final product to the consumer exceeds 3000 miles.

If a company meets 1 of these points, they get a 1-leaf rating, if the meet 2-3, they get a 2-leaf rating and more than that receive a 3-leaf rating from the Council.

Something like a shroud may bring to mind ghost stories or ancient Viking burials, but of all of the above, it is the most environmentally friendly. Even I have to admit though, it’s strange for me to wrap my mind around it. I finally saw a picture of a shroud interment though and, while definitely different, it feels a little less foreign.

Companies like Kinkaraco make these 100% biodegradable shrouds. In fact, their shroud was used in the first (and maybe only) prime time green burial of Nate Fisher in Six Feet Under. Shrouds can be used for regular viewings, cremation and home funerals.

If shrouds aren’t for you or your loved one, a green coffin might be. Honestly, the more I researched them, the more surprised I am that they’re not more common place. I really believe they will be before long. In our increasingly Fair Trade world and the prolific love of unique/homemade products found on sites like Etsy, why wouldn’t you want the products used at your last good-bye to be as unique and socially conscious as the products you used the rest of your life (hmmm… turns out you can buy your coffin on Etsy, but it will definitely not be the frugal option. No worse than in a funeral home though, and these are actually pretty cool looking)?

One of the best companies for green caskets and urns is Final Footprint, owned by Jane Hillhouse, a green enthusiast from England, now based out of California. If you’re looking for cost effective, her thriftiest adult coffins come in just under $600 and nothing in her collection will run you more than a grand. Even factoring in a shipping fee of $100-200, you’re still coming out miles ahead of any funeral home offerings I’ve seen.

Jane offers two main lines – Ecoffins and Final Footprint Natural Caskets. The Ecoffins have been tested for cremation and are carbon neutral. All coffins and urns are also supplied by companies that are Fair Trade certified and use Fair Trade certified manufacturers. Jane herself helped design the Final Footprint line and consulted on what materials to use.

Additionally, she has a wonderful collection of natural urns. I really love the way her wooden scattering tubes look and at $25 a piece, that’s a hard deal to beat (because there’s a phrase you love to hear uttered in connection with the death of a loved one). If you’re interested in learning more about her products, pricing and shipping options, you can contact her through her website.

Granted, the one small problem with ordering your casket from a company outside of a funeral home is preplanning. While you can still arrange for a green coffin at the last minute, the shipping prices will go up quite a bit (although they are still likely to be cheaper than traditional funeral home offerings).

Perhaps you have plans to be cremated already. One particularly cool product I stumbled across is the Bios Urn. I think I prefer a shroud or a simple pine box, but the Bios Urn has me rethinking that. Your cremated remains are placed in this urn along with the seeds of your chosen tree and then it gets planted.

A final thing to take into account is that with green burial, you don’t need a burial vault. A burial vault in a cement or steel box that a coffin is lowered into. It helps the ground keep its shape. However, this also slows decomposition and creates sulfur-loving bacteria that can make its way into nearby water sources and be harmful to our health.

Chemicals

The other thing to think about when considering a green funeral are the chemicals used to preserve the body. Most commonly, people are embalmed. In green funerals, this step is skipped.

The Green Burial Council’s stance of post-mortem chemicals is that the products used “cannot contain chemical ingredients that are toxic or otherwise classified as hazardous” and “products cannot contain chemical ingredients that through their intrinsic course of action, evolve or release a chemical ingredient as previously defined.”

I also enjoy the note that the products cannot contain any chemicals defined only as “trade secrets.” Sorry funeral directors, is that a real thing? Do you actually have an MSDS somewhere for your preserving fluids that list an ingredient as “trade secret”? Because that is worrying and hilarious at the same time.

Embalming occurs for three reasons: public safety, cosmetic restoration, and temporary preservation. James Bedino, a chemist with an interest in safe embalming techniques, has pioneered the term ecobalming to classify green ways to achieve this.

Honestly, when most people are considering this process for their own or their loved ones funeral, they are usually thinking mostly about whether they want an open casket and how that final picture is going to look. This is certainly a valid concern.

If you have an immediate viewing, within a day or two, and the body is stored in a refrigerated environment, you may not need any preservative steps taken beyond that. There are also companies out there that create lines of eco-friendly products that have the same temporary effect as embalming, such as the Enigma Line of Ecobalming products.

These products utilize the same natural ingredients that have been used in funeral ceremonies throughout history to stop some of the more immediate effects of decay, like leaking body fluids and gasses (TMI?). They can even achieve their desired effect with just topical application.

The same company makes a natural compound called Enigma Arterial that can be used to enhance the cosmetic appearance of the deceased if trauma to the body or the ravages of a disease have left them in an unappealing state.

As for temporary preservation, in most cases, the burial will occur soon enough that simple refrigeration will be enough of a preservation technique. Of course, if you already know you want a green burial, you can make it known to your loved ones that they will need to plan to bury you quickly.

Three states legally require that a body be embalmed if it is crossing into or out of their state lines – Alabama, Alaska and New Jersey. Movement within the state does not require embalming. If you are shipping a body by common carrier, four other states require that a body be embalmed – California, Idaho, Kansas and Minnesota.

Embalming has become so common place that it seems almost odd to not do it, but the truth is that it is only common place in the U.S. and Canada. Several religions, like Judaism and Islam, consider it desecration of the body.

Finally, all public health studies show that embalming does nothing to prevent the spread of any diseases. In reality, the chemicals used in the embalming process actually cause cancer in a large number of funerary professionals.

Interested? The series continues with:

• Green Funeral Homes
• Green Cemeteries

AND, on a less morbid note, the second of the three songs I would want played at my own funeral. That’s a lie. It’s still morbid. But I love this song.

 

**This post is not sponsored by any of these companies; they just graciously provided me with information when I asked for it.

Sources:

Bedino, James H. “Ecobalming with Enigma: The Champion Guide to Green EmbalmingPractices and Postmortem Preparation of Bodies for Natural/Green Burial and Ecocremation/Disposition.” Expanding Encyclopedia of Mortuary Practice. 658 (2009). Web.

Embalming: What You Should Know. N.p: Funeral Consumers Alliance, 2007.

Moss, Laura. “The Burial Industry Takes A Turn to Eco-Friendliness.“ Forbes. Web. 2 Dec. 2011.

 

**Linked up at What You Wish Wednesday, Thrifty Tip Thursday,Living Well Spending Less’s Thrifty Thursday, The Thrifty Couple’s Thrifty Thursday, and Fabulously Frugal Thursday.