As seen in The Director

November 2007

The Director - Features

Green Burial is a Beautiful Thing

Suggestions to help funeral directors, cemeterians and cremationists adapt to this growing consumer movement

It seems that wherever I’ve turned in the past few years, I’ve run into something about green burial. Whether in stories in The New York Times and The New Yorker, at funeral conferences abroad, on the hit HBO series Six Feet Under or even at local churches and nonprofit groups, everyone seems to be exploring the possibilities of green cemeteries. 

So what is green burial? Webster’s online dictionary defines the word “green” (as it pertains to products and services) as “not harmful to the environment.” We all know the definition of “burial.” Moreover, we understand that the attitudes of the living are reflected after their death. Therefore, green burial is generally any form of burial/interment that is not harmful to the environment. This can include the burial of cremated remains in a biodegradable urn or burial of an unembalmed body in an environmentally friendly shroud or casket. (This latter method of disposition is increasing in popularity, by the way. In Great Britain, there are now more than 200 green burial/woodland burial sites in operation, up from only 17 in 1996.) 

For the funeral industry, green burial presents tremendous opportunities and perceived threats. The obvious opportunity derives from the enormous media attention given to everything “green.” Consumers naturally expect funeral providers to offer products and services that are not harmful to the environment. Conversely, the threat arises from the potential for the funeral industry to treat green burial as it treated cremation in its infancy: Discourage and avoid at all costs! (And boy, has it been costly.)

As many of you know, there are those within the green burial movement who are, deliberately or not, bypassing the traditional funeral professional. Some conduct training seminars for others while many more simply carry out funerals completely outside the realm of the traditional funeral. These “operators” make removals, clean and prepare the body without embalming and conduct natural/green burials. They are learning to remove pacemakers before cremation and to prepare autopsied bodies for family viewing. This is nothing new to the seasoned funeral professional, except that it is being done in the family home, often with family participation.

Fortunately, such practices represent the extreme of alternative services, and most environmentally conscious families today seek a mix of traditional and green options. For these families, “green” represents an ethical, philosophical imperative. Typically, embalming fluids are not used to preserve a body, and caskets are biodegradable and often manufactured using sustainable and environmentally friendly production methods and components. For many families, the thought of returning the body or cremated remains to the earth – in beautiful and natural surroundings – is a romantic notion. There is a sense of giving back. In this sense, green burial is a beautiful thing. 

In addition, many more consumers see great value in some aspect of green/eco-conscious funeral practices. In fact, many families consider cremation an environmentally friendly method of disposition and ultimately choose to scatter the remains for the same reason. 

The wishes of all families should be honored – not sidelined or frowned upon, as cremation was 20 years ago! Funeral professionals must embrace consumers that opt for a greener form of disposition. It is important not to marginalize this growing demand but instead implement strategies that can meet and exceed the expectations of these consumers who, like cremation consumers, tend to be better educated and more affluent.

How Practitioners Can Adapt

The growing green-burial trend will affect every funeral director, cemeterian and crematory operator. Cemeterians should therefore allocate and designate areas for green burial. In order to cater to the wishes of as many families as possible, there should be degrees of “green” (figuratively and literally), since not every aspect will appeal to every consumer. Cemetery owners will need to be more creative in working with designers and landscapers to fashion unique areas of their cemetery for green burial. (It is worth noting that many of these areas are often not suitable for traditional burial, thereby allowing cemeteries to use otherwise unprofitable land.) 

For example, some families might select a package that includes:

• No embalming; minimal preparation and dressing
• No casket; shroud only
• Hand-dug grave (no mechanical grave digging)
• Indigenous grasses/plants
• No permanent marker.

Other consumers like the “green concept” but still value some traditional practices. They might opt for:

• Embalming or no embalming, with preparation and dressing
• Bio/eco casket or a wood casket
• Planting a tree as a memorial.

In light of these examples, it makes sense for cemeteries to have more than one green zone. “Zone 1” might be completely green, i.e., no embalming, caskets, mechanical diggers or markers, and only indigenous plants. “Zone 2” might allow embalming, a wood casket and a small natural marker, such as an engraved stone.

Consumers will pay for these options, and funeral directors and cemeterians will benefit by adapting to this fledgling trend. In so doing, there is no losing proposition since most funeral home revenues will come more from services and less from merchandise as time passes.

More to the point, merchandise must facilitate service. The funeral industry has yet to entirely come to terms with the fact that consumers can now purchase merchandise online or from storefront or third-party casket and urn retail stores. Yet despite the fact that some families will buy merchandise from a provider other than a funeral home, only a small percentage of consumers are willing to conduct the functions traditionally performed by funeral directors.

So how can funeral directors play a valuable role in this changing marketplace? By exceeding the expectations of green consumers. This can be achieved by offering specific packages that might include:

• Removal of the body by funeral home staff
• Preparation of the body
• Viewing/ID
• Cremation using an eco-friendly casket
• Biodegradable/eco-friendly urn
• Scattering/biodegradable burial
• Professional services of a funeral home

By offering this type of package, funeral directors remain in the process from the time the body is transferred into their care to the time of final disposition, whether via green burial, water burial, scattering, etc. The value of such packages could also be increased based upon a firm’s urn and casket selection, in addition to several other common add-ons, such as video tributes and funeral stationery.

The Future of Green Burial

In 2005, Passages International exhibited at the Green Festival in San Francisco, California. This two-day exposition showcased everything from green investing and finance to green funeral products and services. More than 30,000 consumers, ranging from hard-core environmentalists to “middle America,” attended. Onsite, we conducted an informal survey to assess attendee attitudes toward funerals and memorialization and found that:

1. The majority of those surveyed would like to have a tree or living memorial planted in their memory. Most of these consumers wanted a tree planted on public land (forest or park).
2. Often, consumers scatter cremated remains throughout a longer period. Many scatter small portions in various locations significant to the deceased. This presents an opportunity to sell keepsake urns.
3. Many consumers are not ready immediately after cremation to part with the cremated remains of their loved ones. Instead, they want to hold onto the remains until they have come to terms with their loss. Only then can they start to face and deal with the options available for disposition, whether that involves scattering, green burial or interment. This trend makes it important for funeral professionals to keep in touch with families. Even several years later, families might return to a funeral home to plan services or buy merchandise.
4. Most people felt that $100 to $500 was a reasonable price for a biodegradable and environmentally friendly urn.
5. Consumers do not want to feel they are being “sold” something, but they do appreciate guidance on the alternatives available to them. You are the experts.
6. Several individuals complained that they had received their loved one’s cremated remains in a cardboard or plastic box (a temporary container). They said that if they had known about the practical, environmentally friendly alternatives available, they would have purchased one.
7. Many people also said they would have liked to spend more time with the deceased following the death. They felt that their loved one was removed too quickly and that they should have been given more time before the body was transported to the funeral home. This might explain why preparation of the body at home, or a wake at home, appeals to some consumers.

Although green offerings might not appeal to every funeral consumer, funeral service professionals can still create strategies that will position their businesses to deal with the changing attitudes toward funeral rituals. Deathcare professionals should offer as many service variations as possible in order to remain profitable and exceed the expectations of every family. By planning ahead and keeping informed of consumer trends, funeral directors, cemeterians and cremationists are less likely to be caught off-guard and lose out on business when families ask for something different.

Finally, do not be fooled into believing that just because families do not look at traditional merchandise (e.g., bronze caskets and urns), they will not spend significant dollars on products and services in which they see value – the items that fit with their views on life and death.

Today, the “green funeral movement” is in its infancy and, until recently, had little relevance to the funeral industry as a whole. According to The LOHAS Journal, however, an estimated $227 billion (yes, billion!) is spent annually on green goods and services. For many, green living is a way of life. Thus, the funeral industry is well advised to take notice of this market’s buying power. For now, these families will consult their local funeral director when a death occurs, but if he or she does not provide the services and products they demand, rest assured that they will certainly find someone else who does.