Q: What can you tell me about green funeral options? At age 82, I would like to preplan my funeral and make it as natural as possible.
Great question! Green funeral options are becoming increasingly popular in the United States as more and more Americans are looking for environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional funerals. Here’s what you should know about “green burial” and “green cremation” options.
Green Burial
If you wish to be buried, a green/natural burial will minimize the environmental impact by forgoing embalming chemicals (which are not required by New York State law), traditional casket and concrete vault. Instead, you’ll be buried in either a biodegradable container or shroud with no vault, and you won’t be embalmed. This allows the body to decompose naturally and become part of the earth.
If you want to temporarily preserve the body for viewing or a memorial service, instead of embalming, you can request dry ice or Techni ice, a refrigeration unit, or a nontoxic embalming agent.
You’ll also be happy to know that green burials are much cheaper than traditional funerals, which averaged around $8,000 in 2023. By scrapping the coffin, vault and embalming, which are expensive, you’ll save yourself several thousand dollars on your funeral costs.
To find green burial services, the Green Burial Council offers an online directory of providers and other resources at GreenBurialCouncil.org.
If there isn’t one nearby, your next step is to contact several traditional funeral homes to see if they offer green funeral service options–many do.
You’ll also need to find a green cemetery. There are nearly 100 green cemeteries throughout the U.S., along with more than 300 traditional (hybrid) cemeteries that offer green burials too. To find them, the New Hampshire Funeral Resources, Education and Advocacy website has a list at NHfuneral.org.
Within Westchester County, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery offers a green burial option at their Riverview Natural Burial Grounds. And the Ballard-Durand Funeral Homes assist in green funeral services.
As mentioned earlier, your burial can be more environmentally friendly by not using embalming chemicals and, if the cemetery allows, using a biodegradable casket and skipping the vault. If a vault is required, ask to have holes drilled in the bottom, or use a concrete grave box with an open bottom so the body can return to the earth.
Green Cremation
If you would rather be cremated, you have some green choices as well. While cremation has always been touted as being more eco-friendly than a typical burial, a traditional cremation, which uses high heat to incinerate the body, does emit greenhouse gases into the air.
A green cremation, however, uses water and potassium hydroxide to reduce a deceased body to its basic element of bone ash within a few hours. This green technique, which is known as alkaline hydrolysis, is a little more expensive than traditional cremation. There is no law yet in New York allowing or disallowing this method.
Another green consideration is deciding what to do with the remains. Instead of scattering, which can be harmful to the environment, there are a wide variety of biodegradable urns that dissolve into the earth or water over time, and memorial urns that will grow a plant or tree in combination with your ashes.
Susan E. Ross is founder/publisher/curator of Westchester Senior Voice print and digital magazine. She is also founder of the Booming BETTER Expo as well as a Certified Senior Advisor and part of the boomer generation. She is committed to changing the conversation about aging and discards the notion that being a certain age makes us irrelevant. Boomers and seniors are vital members of our communities and enhance the lives of those around us. Susan can be reached via email at Publisher@westchesterseniorvoice.com
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17 Apr 2024
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Q: What can you tell me about green funeral options? At age 82, I would like to preplan my funeral and make it as natural as possible.
Great question! Green funeral options are becoming increasingly popular in the United States as more and more Americans are looking for environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional funerals. Here’s what you should know about “green burial” and “green cremation” options.
Green Burial
If you wish to be buried, a green/natural burial will minimize the environmental impact by forgoing embalming chemicals (which are not required by New York State law), traditional casket and concrete vault. Instead, you’ll be buried in either a biodegradable container or shroud with no vault, and you won’t be embalmed. This allows the body to decompose naturally and become part of the earth.
If you want to temporarily preserve the body for viewing or a memorial service, instead of embalming, you can request dry ice or Techni ice, a refrigeration unit, or a nontoxic embalming agent.
You’ll also be happy to know that green burials are much cheaper than traditional funerals, which averaged around $8,000 in 2023. By scrapping the coffin, vault and embalming, which are expensive, you’ll save yourself several thousand dollars on your funeral costs.
To find green burial services, the Green Burial Council offers an online directory of providers and other resources at GreenBurialCouncil.org.
If there isn’t one nearby, your next step is to contact several traditional funeral homes to see if they offer green funeral service options–many do.
You’ll also need to find a green cemetery. There are nearly 100 green cemeteries throughout the U.S., along with more than 300 traditional (hybrid) cemeteries that offer green burials too. To find them, the New Hampshire Funeral Resources, Education and Advocacy website has a list at NHfuneral.org.
Within Westchester County, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery offers a green burial option at their Riverview Natural Burial Grounds. And the Ballard-Durand Funeral Homes assist in green funeral services.
As mentioned earlier, your burial can be more environmentally friendly by not using embalming chemicals and, if the cemetery allows, using a biodegradable casket and skipping the vault. If a vault is required, ask to have holes drilled in the bottom, or use a concrete grave box with an open bottom so the body can return to the earth.
Green Cremation
If you would rather be cremated, you have some green choices as well. While cremation has always been touted as being more eco-friendly than a typical burial, a traditional cremation, which uses high heat to incinerate the body, does emit greenhouse gases into the air.
A green cremation, however, uses water and potassium hydroxide to reduce a deceased body to its basic element of bone ash within a few hours. This green technique, which is known as alkaline hydrolysis, is a little more expensive than traditional cremation. There is no law yet in New York allowing or disallowing this method.
Another green consideration is deciding what to do with the remains. Instead of scattering, which can be harmful to the environment, there are a wide variety of biodegradable urns that dissolve into the earth or water over time, and memorial urns that will grow a plant or tree in combination with your ashes.