The Environmental Impact Of Death

For many funeral consumers, the carbon footprint of commonly used end of life services can be of concern to you. Especially when you consider that around ten acres of an average cemetery can contain enough wood used in burial coffins to build around 40 homes, and more than 1,000 tons of steel in caskets, and 20,000 tons of concrete to build burial vaults. For many, this can seem like an inefficient utilization of materials. However, there are different steps that you can choose to take to mitigate the environmental impact and innovative solutions being invented. Here’s more information.

What Is the Environmental Impact of Traditional Burial?

A “traditional” burial, otherwise known as a “full-service” burial, generally includes a casket, flower wreaths, vault, tombstone, and other religious traditions. With the many arrangements required, burials do have quite a substantial environmental impact. More importantly, most cemeteries are also unable to sustain plant or animal life due to the amount of steel, concrete, and wood used.

What Is the Environmental Impact of Cremation?

There is a myth that cremation is an environmentally friendly alternative to burial since it takes up less resources and less land. However, research has started to prove that while cremation is more eco-friendly than burials, it is still quite environmentally damaging. This is largely because in order to fully incinerate a human body, a large amount of natural gas needs to be burnt. This results in the release of harmful greenhouse gases, furans, and dioxins. Even though there are more fuel-efficient crematoriums, this will differ depending on the system used.

What Are Some Eco-Friendly Alternatives You Can Consider?

Natural burials, also known as green burials or environmental burials, are one option that you can consider. Unlike traditional forms of burial, a green burial generally involves no concrete vault, no embalming, no traditional caskets, and efforts are made to maintain little or no changes that are human-made to the burial site chosen. Instead of embalming and placing the body in a casket, a shroud that is made of natural materials or a decomposable container is chosen. However, due to the lack of a definitive interpretation of what products are natural or not, the Green Burial Council is the most comprehensive accreditation program that can be consulted for reliable information.

What is most different from a traditional burial is that a green burial site is one of the key components for a natural burial. They are generally held on conservation burial sites or exclusively green burial sites, and both are required to implement strict policies to conserve energy and minimize waste. The use of non-organic materials and toxic chemicals will be strictly prohibited in the funeral process. In fact, some green burial grounds may not even allow permanent markers, instead utilizing GPS systems to help families mark and locate gravesites to protect the land.

At the end of the day, a death in the family is a time of grief and is difficult for everyone involved. With American Heritage Cemetery Funeral Home Crematory, our team is here to make sure that you do not have to go through it alone. Not only will our staff be able to walk you through the necessary processes, but we are also able to provide grief support to help you and your family cope. For more information on our services, contact us anytime.