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Eco-Friendly Burials On Rise In U.S.
May 6, 2009 10:36 a.m. EST
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Linda Young - AHN Editor
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Green burial options are beginning to be more available for people who don't like the idea of having their bodies embalmed and buried in a sealed casket that is in turn placed inside a concrete vault in the ground.
The U.S. Green Burial Council has says there are at least 300 certified providers of green burials, which includes cemeteries and funeral homes.
"Since 2005, the Green Burial Council has been working to make burial sustainable for the planet, meaningful for the families, and economically viable for the provider," the U.S. Green Burial Council says in a statement on its Web site.
At some Pennsylvania funeral homes ecologically friendly burials include burying the deceased's unembalmed body in a simple burial shroud instead of a coffin.
While that might seem odd to some Americans, most are already familiar with the practice from reading the Biblical accounts of how the body of Jesus of Nazareth was placed in a tomb wrapped in a burial shroud after he died. That is still the practice in that part of the world where many people are buried within a day or so of death, without being embalmed and wrapped in a shroud, while others are placed in a simple wooden coffin.
Eco friendly burials can be friendly on the wallet as well.
The director of the Bringhurst and Turner Funeral Home, Deborah Cassidy, told KYW Newsradio that all the components of a green burial were eco-friendly.
"A family can actually have their viewing at home, with the help of the funeral director. It's an unembalmed individual, then a green burial," Cassidy was quoted as saying.
And there are other organizations affiliated with green, or natural burials as well. The National Funeral Directors Association offers this definition: "In natural burial, the body is buried, without embalming, in a natural setting. Any shroud or casket that is used must be biodegradable, nontoxic, and of sustainable material. Traditional standing headstones are not permitted. Instead, flat rocks, plants or trees may serve as grave markers."
Among the environmentally friendly burial products being offered by some funeral homes are salt urns that biodegrade in about four hours after being placed in water, eco-urns made of cornstarch that will break down once they're in the ground and willow and seagrass caskets.
Of course eco-friendly burials were once the norm in America in the 18th and 19th centuries when the bodies of many dead individuals were merely washed and then buried in a hole dug somewhere in their yard.
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