This story is republished from the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative.
When people lose a loved one — especially unexpectedly — environmental consciousness may be the last thing on their minds. But modern funeral practices are wreaking havoc on the environment. Bodies are embalmed with toxic chemicals and buried in caskets placed in non-biodegradable vaults that take up increasingly limited space in cemeteries.
According to a Cornell University study, an estimated 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid, 20 million feet of hardwood, 1.6 million tons of concrete and 64,500 tons of steel are used in American burials yearly. Even cremation — often thought of as a green alternative to burial — requires up to 500 gallons of fuel and releases up to 250 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a recent study from the Green Burial Council (GBC).
However, for those looking to reduce their carbon footprints even in death, green options, though still relatively rare, are available in Michigan.
What is a ‘green burial’?
A ‘green burial’ is the most common and accessible green end-of-life option. The practice involves interring people in a manner that is biodegradable and non-toxic with a minimal permanent memorial and upkeep.
The process is a complete return to earth, said Emily Miller of the GBC, which establishes green burial guidelines and grants cemeteries official designations. .
“I call it the ‘old, old-fashioned way’…” she said. “We’re not creating any type of artificial situation that would prevent the natural processes of the soil kind of reclaiming the body, and [we are] recycling those nutrients back into the earth.”
GBC-certified cemeteries forgo burial vaults and require biodegradable caskets, shrouds, urn or other containers. Formaldehyde embalming is also prohibited, as is using herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers in grave maintenance.
Michigan has four GBC-certified cemeteries, with three of them in southeast Michigan, including The Preserve at All Saints Cemetery in Waterford, Linden Meadow at Clinton Grove Cemetery Association in Clinton Township and Hebrew Memorial Gardens in Roseville. Some other cemeteries offer a hybrid green model or similar services without a designation.
The 30+-acre Preserve is adjacent to All Saints Cemetery, part of the Mt. Elliott Cemetery Association. It abuts Maceday Lake and adjoins protected township and state land. The cemetery is essentially a nature preserve, an area of countryside and wildlife that attracts walkers, bicyclists, birdwatchers and others looking to enjoy a peaceful environment.
“Natural or green burial is the last act of environmental protection you can perform before you pass,” said cemetery director Russ Burns. “Burials have been ‘green’ essentially for centuries, millennia even, before the advent of modern, conventional burial and funeral practices. We’ve just come full circle.”
Unlike its sister cemeteries, The Preserve doesn’t have traditional headstones. Those buried along the pathway are marked by engraved, natural boulders from the cemetery’s quarry. People can also be buried without a marker in the meadow for the ultimate, private final resting place.
“You probably wouldn’t know you were in a cemetery unless somebody told you,” said Fran Vincent-Muscat, Mt. Elliott’s marketing director.
Since the cemetery opened in 2010, interest in the practice has grown as awareness increases. Vincent-Muscat said 400 to 500 green burials have been interred and another 300 to 400 green burial plots pre-purchased.
Joan Mason of Grosse Pointe Woods stumbled upon The Preserve when pre-planning her mother’s funeral. Mason and her husband— both nature overs —immediately bought five plots.
“I don’t want to put that much into it,” she said. “I will be gone, and if I can become part of the earth, that’s wonderful.”
Hebrew Memorial Gardens, established in 2012, has about a dozen green burials interred, an additional 70 to 100 pre-purchased, and a capacity for about 1,000. The 5-acre cemetery is nestled within its larger Beth Moses Cemetery and claims to be the first green Jewish cemetery in the country. Like The Preserve, it’s in a natural setting, nestled within a forest full of wildlife, birds and butterflies.
Otto Dube established Hebrew Memorial Gardens. He said the challenge is people like to be buried near family members, who are usually in the traditional cemeteries. Dube said green burial appeals to younger generations and families, especially environmentalists and nature lovers.
While typically associated with eco-consciousness, green burials appeal on many levels. For some, they’re more cost-effective. The average cost of a traditional full-service burial in Metro Detroit is $8,818, according to Funeralocity. Green burials, however, forgo many pricey components of a traditional burial, including casket liners and vaults —which can run $500 to $10,000 — as well as embalming, which averages about $800. The burial container has an array of price points for handmade wooden caskets, biodegradable urns or a shroud or blanket. Maintenance of the grave site is also often cheaper.
Economics was the driving factor for Clarkston resident Amanda Ray when she and her family chose a green burial at The Preserve for her brother who died unexpectedly in 2019. But she found the experience so peaceful and personal that she bought six green burial plots for her family. When her 14-year-old daughter died last year, that intimacy was even more crucial.
Her daughter’s simple pine casket was covered with hand-drawn messages and pictures from the hundreds of loved ones who attended the funeral. The service was less structured than a traditional funeral, giving the family flexibility to mourn in a most comfortable manner.
“It just felt much more personal, there was nobody to guide you…” she said. “It was just how life actually is supposed to end without all the formalities afterward. You don’t want formalities at times like that.”
Howe-Peterson funeral homes in Dearborn and Downriver have been GBC-certified for more than a decade. Owner Timothy Schramm said he wanted to offer green burial services to meet evolving consumer preferences, though he estimated that only 1% to 2% of his customers have opted for them.
Nevertheless, Schramm said he has seen a growing interest in green burials, especially as younger generations become more environmentally conscious. According to a recent report from the National Funeral Directors Association, 60 percent of Americans said they would be interested in exploring green funeral options. But like Ray’s experience, Schramm said eco-consciousness is not the only reason for growing interest.
“I think it’s more of a decision of, this is a peaceful resting place, this is where I would like to be,” he said.
Human composting or water cremation?
Green alternatives to cremation are also available, although limited in Michigan. Human composting (also called natural organic reduction or termination) and aquamation (also known as water cremation, alkaline hydrolysis or resomation) both use natural methods to speed up the decomposition, resulting in an organic compound that can be transported or spread. Both, however, aren’t legal or available in Michigan, although it is possible to access those services across state lines.
Human composting involves encasing the body with materials such as straw, sawdust and alfalfa that speed up decomposition. The process is usually completed within 60 to 90 days, resulting in a soil that can then be returned to loved ones or sent to local conservation sites.
Brienna Smith, the director of community outreach for the Washington-based Return Home human composting funeral home, said the goal is to return organic matter to the earth.
“We are actually supposed to give the earth our bodies when we pass away, because what we’re made of is what the earth is made of and it needs it,” she said.
Return Home and companies like Recompose work with families throughout the United States and Canada to provide human composting. Services at Return Home are $4,950 plus $2,500 for shipping and managing out-of-state remains, while Recompose charges $7,000 + $3,000 for shipping.
Comparatively, the average cost of a full-service cremation is $6,350 in Metro Detroit according to Funeralocity, though simple ones can cost less than $1,000. Smith said 30 to 40 percent of the bodies they work with come from out of state, but not many are from Michigan.
Human composting became legal in the United States in 2019 in Washington state. It’s not universally accepted throughout the country, since death care is primarily a state-regulated issue. Smith said interest in human composting is growing at staggering speeds throughout the country.
“It didn’t even exist five years ago, now it exists in 12 states,” she said. “Things like this don’t usually move that quickly.”
Phil Douma, executive director of the Michigan Funeral Directors Association, said the legalization of human composting in Michigan is largely dependent on consumer demand, and he hasn’t seen a strong movement in that direction. Even if the process was legalized in the state, he said it would likely require an outside company to offer it.
“Given the process, which involves caring for the deceased’s remains carefully over a period of weeks, monitoring humidity, temperature, pH levels, sometimes transferring to other containers… I don’t see it as being the kind of thing that an individual funeral home is going to be offering in the near future,” he said.
Aquamation uses a heated solution of mostly water mixed with alkaline chemicals to speed up the decomposition, which usually takes four to 16 hours. The remaining bones are then dried and pulverized to create a powder that can be transferred to an urn and returned to families.
Compared to traditional cremation, aquamation doesn’t rely on fossil fuels nor does it release pollutants into the air. It does, however, require electricity to heat the water as well as about 1,300 liters of water, but the process is still considered to use 80% to 90% less energy than cremation, according to US Funerals Online. The process can cost $1,200 to $4,000.
Though the technology has been legal for humans since 2003, there hasn’t been much interest in the state. At least 20 states have legalized aquamation, with Illinois being the closest.
Douma said most people still view green burial as the more natural option, and the fate of its legalization status is the same as that of human composting.
“Consumer demand as well as the willingness of a provider to provide the service, together will be the factors,” he said.
Schramm said he’s had only one family ask for information about human composting and none for aquamation, but he can help families access those services.
“It’s just not something that’s relevant yet, and I would emphasize the word ‘yet’…’” “Whether the state of Michigan recognizes it as a form of final disposition or not, we’re going to be able to make arrangements for families to have that type of final disposition.”
Where to start
The Preserve at All Saints Cemetery
4401 Nelsey Rd, Waterford Twp, Mich.
(248) 623-9633
info@mtelliott.com
Hebrew Memorial Gardens within Beth Moses Cemetery
33230 Southbound Gratiot Ave, Roseville, Mich.
(248) 543-1622
info@hebrewmemorial.org
Locations in Dearborn, Taylor and Lincoln Park, Mich.
(313) 561-1500
info@howepeterson.com
4146 B Pl NW, Auburn, Wash.
(206) 888-4663
info@returnhome.com