Introduction
From cardboard coffins and natural burials to water-based cremation, Australians are increasingly open to alternative farewells – but the key is to plan.
Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint.
Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@the.com
While it may seem a minor consideration among the many decisions people face at the end of life, the method chosen for body disposition can significantly affect the environmental impact.
In many Western countries, cremation is the dominant form of deathcare – selected by about three-quarters of Australians – but it is arguably the most environmentally damaging option.
Sustainability certifiers PlanetMark found that a typical gas cremation releases emissions equivalent to 125kg of carbon dioxide. These emissions include methane, nitrous oxides, sulphur dioxide, and other volatile organic compounds and particles. Additionally, mercury from dental fillings is vaporised during the process. Other experts suggest that actual emissions could be even higher.
This level of pollution is comparable to driving a Ford Ranger from Melbourne to Canberra.
Traditional burials, the other common choice, also have environmental consequences. Chemicals leach into the soil as deeply buried bodies and treated timber coffins decompose. Maintenance of burial sites can further release greenhouse gases.
Changing Perspectives on Deathcare
“Basically the entirety of our history as an Australian society, we’ve only really done two things and that was seen as entirely sufficient,”says Dr Kate Falconer, an Australian death law researcher now based at University College Cork in Ireland.
However, Australians are increasingly open to alternative farewells. Dr Domenic Trimboli, an architect and urban planner at Curtin University who has researched funerary practices and spaces in Australia, notes:
“Many people, regardless of age, had thought about what they wanted to have happen to them, and there was definitely a curiosity about alternatives.”
Cleaner Options
Minimalist natural burials and alternative methods can be gentler on the environment.
Natural burials involve minimal preparation or embalming. The deceased is typically buried in a natural-fibre cloth shroud or biodegradable coffin at a shallow depth, allowing decomposition into the surrounding soil over approximately a decade. This method results in negligible greenhouse gas emissions and returns the body to the earth.
New cremation technologies are also emerging. Aquamation, also known as resomation or alkaline hydrolysis, is a cremation-like process where the body is immersed in an alkaline solution and breaks down within hours. The remaining bones are powdered and returned to the family. This process offers a more "pure" decomposition compared to gas cremation, which produces ash mingled with the coffin material.
Though not widely available outside the United States, terramation – human composting – is under consideration in other countries, including Australia. Recently, independent MP Alex Greenwich introduced legislation to allow this process. Terramation involves placing the body in a coffin-like vessel alongside organic material, microbes, or fungi, gradually transforming the body into compost.
Sustainable Caskets
While alternative deathcare methods are slowly gaining traction, traditional methods can be made more sustainable.
“Smaller decisions on a larger scale, I think, would make a really significant difference,”Falconer says.
One example is the choice of coffin. Falconer explains:
“I don’t think a lot of people realise how bad coffins are. A lot of coffins might be wood, but they’re often coated in lacquer, they’ve got plastic linings, the handles are all plastic … as a rule [coffins] are generally imported.”
Replacing lacquered coffins with plastic components with untreated pine, cardboard, or wicker baskets can reduce emissions associated with burial.
For example, a mahogany veneer coffin with plastic handles and lining results in more than 170kg of emissions if cremated. In comparison, a natural burial using a cardboard coffin with rope handles emits less than 10kg. A biodegradable bag had the lowest emissions of any vessel in the PlanetMark analysis at 0.3kg.
Trimboli adds that some of these alternatives are not significantly more expensive than cremation.
“There’s no reason that over time that can’t become a lot more competitive, if it’s not already,”he says.
Industry Practices Are Changing
It is not only consumers who are seeking more sustainable funeral options. The funeral industry is also adopting efficiencies in energy use, waste reduction, and repurposing materials used during services to reduce costs and environmental impact.
Sharyn Moll, a former funeral director and national councillor for the industry peak body Funerals Australia, helped develop a sustainability charter published last year.
“A lot of the call [for sustainable practices] is actually coming from the industry rather than from the public,”Moll says.
“Every business needs to try and be more sustainable, so it’s just good business really.”
Have the Conversation
Falconer notes that regulatory ambiguity and inconsistency can hinder nationwide progress, but the greatest obstacle to sustainable deathcare is the tendency for Australians to postpone funeral decisions until after a loved one passes.
“The tiniest of decisions has significant environmental impacts.”
Executors, often under pressure and grieving, tend to default to traditional burials or cremations.
“If people insist on having what they see as a ‘standard’ funeral, then that’s what we have to give them,”Moll says.
“What the industry would really like to see is people becoming more aware of what’s available, what’s out there, so they can think all that through, talk with family about it, so when the time comes, they already know what they would like.”
