While there is no ‘greener’ burial than simply dumping a body in a ditch and then covering it in soil, civilized society these days tends to frown upon, and view with suspicion, such types of burials (mostly for good reason too). Though taking your loved one in the backyard and giving them the same treatment your dog gives his favorite bone is completely out of the question, that doesn’t mean there are no eco-friendly ways of spending eternity in your designated place of rest.
Green Products For Life Death
For the person who wants to leave a somewhat smaller impact on the Earth after they leave it (or rejoin it depending on how you look at it), there is the eco-coffin. That’s right, a coffin that, like you, will biodegrade over time and leave no trace of either of you. What I found interesting while researching a new U.S. company in particular offering such coffins, Ecoffins USA, is the fact that there is actually an entire industry that offers such burial options.
Though almost all eco-coffins are designed to biodegrade, their style, material composition, and method of manufacture vary greatly. Colorado-based Ecoffins USA (made in China), for example, are handmade from banana sheaves and bamboo; while Ecopod’s coffins are formed from recycled office paper and newsprint into sleek works of art. Or you can go really old-school with a traditional sea-grass or wicker casket like the ones people in Indonesia have been getting buried in for hundreds of years.
Eco Coffins LTD. in the U.K. (where eco-friendly coffins have been on the market for several years) are made with 100% recycled cardboard from the U.K. and in the U.K. This not only means that the carbon footprint of their caskets extremely lower than that of a traditional caskets, or even imported eco-coffins, but one who chooses to be cremated instead of buried can rest assured their emissions will be 90% lower than a standard chipboard coffin which releases toxic substances like formaldehyde when burned.
A Contradictory Choice For A ‘Green End’?
So many, like myself, may ask the obvious question: How is having your corpse take up space for seemingly forever in a box (though biodegradable) that required energy and emissions to produce and transport greener than simply being cremated? The answer is simple, at least to the first part of the question, is it’s not greener seeing as anyone buried (in the U.S. at least) is usually done so in a cemetery which will remain as such for forever; making that land off limits to anything and everything other than hunks of decaying flesh in adorned boxes. The answer to the second part of that question is probably the same as well. Cremation is an energy intensive process, but I would venture to guess that the emissions released and energy consumed to cremate one body in a casket would be less than the net carbon footprint of an eco coffin.
However you or your family wishes to treat your decaying matter once you cease is certainly a personal decision. If you live in the U.S., Ecofinns USA and a couple of other companies are now offering their ‘greener’ caskets for those wanting one. For me, being incinerated and sprinkled in my organic garden will be just fine for my final resting place.
100% recycled paper Ecopods being made and finished
Seagrass and cane coffins
The Good: A much more eco-friendly repository for your body when a casket/coffin is a requirement.
The Bad: The energy consumed and emissions released to manufacture some eco-coffins is more than simply being cremated. Though some eco-coffins claim to require less energy to incinerate at crematoria, the fact remains that your remains will forever remain wherever they are buried, thereby insuring for centuries that the plot of ground you occupy could never be used for anything else beneficial, i.e. a solar farm, park, etc., or non beneficial, another Walmart, strip club, etc. You get the idea.
The Bottom-Line: If you can’t stand the thought of your dead decaying body NOT still taking up some amount of space on Earth, but want to do it in the most green (contradictory) way, then an eco-coffin is in your future…a very NEAR FUTURE! Haha. Just kidding. I missed out on Halloween this year.
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