8 Eco-Friendly Burial Options to Think About Now

Be peaceful and inspiring with a bed of daisies. However, you don't allow the planet to rest when you use chemicals and toxins to decompost your dead body.

A few days from now, you get to spend time with loved ones to visit deceased family members. You have plenty of time to drive to Heroes' Cemetery or The Heritage Park Mortuary & Crematory if you stay at Arbor Lanes. But, it doesn't matter if it takes an hour or more to get to visit the people you love. Since it's a long weekend, you have enough time to prepare for Halloween and mull over your plans for your grave.

Think Ahead

Nowadays, it's best to stay on top of things. Whether it's preparing for college or moving forward with career, you must create a plan. If you don't have one, it's time you make one. Planning doesn't only apply to immediate needs. You must also factor in your death. Others might think it's morbid to think about one's passing, but it's the most practical solution.

When you plan for your passing, you ensure that the people you leave behind won't have to think about the casket or your grave. Having a plan covers all these details and more. You have the option to go green if you want.

Die and Contribute to Sustainability

Sooner or later, your body reaches the end of the line. It's time you pay attention to how to leave the Earth but still contribute to sustainable efforts. With that in mind, here are 8 green ideas for your body besides being buried six feet under the ground.

1. Serve as an artificial reef

Instead of scattering your ashes and praying the waves to take you to places, you should sign up to become an Eternal Reef. An Eternal Reef is an artificially-designed reef that uses cast concrete to serve as a home for various marine creatures and life forms under the sea. It utilized the cremated remains or "cremains" of an individual and mixed into environmentally-safe cement mixtures. The result is a formation placed in a permitted ocean location chosen by the individual, family member or friend.

The organization encourages families and friends to participate in the creation of the reef. Participants assist in mixing the remains with concrete. They are also the ones in charge or personalizing it with handprints and written messages. Small mementos are also allowed. Eternal Reefs currently operates in the United States. Some local states and federal agencies grant access and support it. You can find the reefs on sites designated for recreational fishing and diving areas.

Indeed, being an artificial reef is much better than embalming the body and burying it in the ground.

2. Grow a tree

Instead of a traditional burial, why not become a tree? The body goes in a biodegradable bio-polymer resembling an egg where you can find a tree on top. The tree gets the nutrients from the remains of a dead person in the egg-shaped bag.

Aside from this, you can opt for a biodegradable urn made from sustainable options. The Bios Urn, for instance, uses coconut shell, compact peat, and cellulose. It claims to have no preservatives or any additives to hold it together. The container comes with soil mix and expansion disk. Below is space for the ashes. Once you place the remains, it's time to plant it in an area to allow the seed to grow and germinate.

3. Play the anthem of your life

Andvinyly, a company in the UK, presses cremains into discs. Each disc features 24 minutes of audio (12 on each side). The sound can come from you, your significant other and from other people you cherish. However, each disc features the company's standard artwork and labels which include your name, date of birth, and date of death. Still, you can provide original artwork by providing a photo or allowing others to set a picture for you.

4. Become a diamond

LifeGem creates a certified, high-quality diamond using the remains of the body. Transforming the remains into a gem is one way to celebrate life and maintain the connection with loved ones. The diamonds are timeless and endure the test of time. It's the perfect family heirloom and memento to leave behind.

5. Wear a mushroom burial suit

Jae Rhim Lee, founder of Coeico and the maker of the suit introduced a new way to save the planet even during death. She came up with a head-to-toe "ninja pajamas" with special mushroom spores that feed off human tissues. Mushrooms can absorb and purify toxins. The process is called mycoremediation, wherein the toxins become nutrients absorbed by the trees. With the suit, a dead body becomes highly useful for the Earth.

6. Try water cremation

Aquamation, alkaline hydrolysis or water cremation are all the same. The process requires full submersion of the body in a stainless steel vessel containing 95 percent water and 5 percent potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide. The combination of water and high temperature allows the body to melt and leave it with the skeleton or parts of it. The leftover becomes a powder with a pearly sheen which loved ones can scatter or place in a biodegradable urn.

7. Be part of a body farm

Body farms allow scientists to study body decomposition in different decomposition scenarios. Thanks to the body farm a lot of developments happened in criminal science and the study of death, thanatology. Though it can be creepy and disturbing to know that your body lies in the forest infested with maggots or eaten by hungry carnivores in the desert, it's still a greener compared to the chemicals they place to preserve the body.

8. Order biodegradable caskets

You can skip embalming fluids and other toxic chemicals. A green burial ensures you won't have any of that. At the same time, there are no machines used to dig the grave. It must be done by hands. It also uses a casket made of wicker or unbleached cloth shroud wraps the body. Since the burial process is shorter than usual, it costs less than the average funeral.


Halloween and other life events can make you think of death. Preparing for death isn't necessarily a bad thing especially when you think of the loved ones you have to think of when you leave the planet. Choosing any of these ideas extends the health of the earth and their future.