Green Alternative to Traditional Wood Coffins

Green burials cost less and are earth friendly. Instead of conventional wood and steel coffins, people can bury their loved ones in a more biodegradable cardboard, cartonboard or wicker casket. The definition of a green burial varies, but it generally means either cremation or full-body burial with no embalming fluids and a biodegradable coffin. In addition to the ecological and emotional benefits, green burials can often be friendlier to the pocketbook. Burials that include embalming, steel casket and concrete vaults can cost $10,000 or more, while green burials can be done for less than $2,000.

According to National Geographic, American funerals are responsible for the felling of 30 million board feet of casket wood (some of which comes from tropical hardwoods), 90,000 tons of steel, 1.6 million tons of concrete for burial vaults, and 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid. Even cremation is an enviromental horror story with the incineration process emitting many a noxious substance, including dioxin, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide and climate changing carbon dioxide.

The Indianapolis Star reported in its Sunday editions  that at least two green cemeteries are being planned in Indiana — one near Bloomington and another in Lafayette. Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers in Indianapolis are training staff on green services and are considering ways to create green burial sections at some of its existing cemetaries.

The Green Burial Council, a nonprofit group that sets standards for natural burials, says traditional services can be wasteful – using caskets made of steel, copper or old-growth hardwoods.