Natural Burial Melbourne

A natural burial, also known as eco funerals or a green funeral, is an excellent way to honour the memory of a loved one with minimal impact on the environment. If you’re considering a natural burial, Kingston Funerals can plan and direct, giving you time to focus on the important things. Discuss your unique needs with our team today.

What does it mean to have a Green Funeral?

A green funeral or eco friendly funeral is any funeral that has been designed to have as little impact on the environment as possible. This means natural or biodegradable coffins, natural burial grounds and natural forms of reducing the impact on air quality during the funeral.

Many burial processes involve preparing the body using chemicals, clothing it in non-biodegradable materials, and burying it in a coffin that has been treated to reduce rot. With the addition of a ceremony in a cemetery or burial ground, this makes for a nice event, but doesn’t take into account environmental impact. By changing each part to be a bit more environmentally conscious, you can have an equally memorable funeral without the damage to soil, plants and wildlife.

For many people, a green funeral is a great way to save the natural environment that has been an important part of their life, and leave the world with minimal impact. By having a natural burial, you can leave behind a legacy, and be remembered in a different way.

How Does a Natural Burial Help the Environment?

Natural burials involve no toxic chemicals and don’t require land to be cleared or for trees to be chopped down to happen. Instead, natural burial sites are created in areas that would normally be natural wildlife habitats.

The natural earth will break down the body as it is naturally meant to do, and plant life will grow again over the resting place. No concrete vaults or metal caskets are used in natural burials, so there’s no risk of chemicals being released into the environment. And there are no ongoing maintenance costs, such as water waste, pesticides or fertilisers.

It’s a completely green way to go.

How to Have a Natural Burial

If you’re considering having a natural burial or green funeral, there are several things you can change. These include:

Using a biodegradable coffin

Instead, you can use natural materials to wrap the body (such as cotton or hemp), and then bury it in a natural container or shroud. This may be recycled cardboard, natural woven fibres, wicker, cardboard, bamboo, or even seagrass.

Natural Composting

While a tad morbid, another option is to have your body naturally composted before burial. This can take up to a year and requires natural materials to be buried with your body – namely straw, natural fabric, or even just wood chips. Being buried with seeds, or even mushrooms, to propel their growth is becoming a popular option for many natural burials.

Being buried without a casket

Some natural burials allow the body to be put straight into the ground without being sealed in a coffin. While this may not be for everyone, it is an option worth considering.

Using a natural grave marker

Part of the appeal of natural burials is to leave as little trace as possible. Many go to great lengths, even being buried with a small marker instead of a gravestone, or no marker at all. You can also use a stone, tree, or flower as a marker, allowing everything to blend nearly seamlessly into the environment.

How Much Does a Natural Burial Cost?

A green burial can cost anywhere between $3,000 and $8,000, or between the cost of your standard cremation and a standard burial. The natural burial ground will vary in price depending on whether or not there is a service charge, as well as the size of your plot. The grave plot is cheaper than your typical funeral, however, there are still a number of preparation costs involved.

Why Not Just Get Cremated?

While more environmentally friendly than a traditional funeral, cremation still has an impact. Cremating a body releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and can actually be worse for the environment if energy sources used in the crematorium are not renewable, low pollution natural resources.

Natural Burials and Green Funerals With Kingston Funerals

If you’re considering a green funeral for a loved one, or even yourself, Kingston Funerals can guide you through the process and help make things stress free for you. We offer a more personal approach to green burial services, with our team available whenever you need them to provide support, coordinate the funeral, and ensure everything happens in the way you’re envisioning. Call us 24/7 and a member of our team will be there to provide the information you need.