There’s a growing interest in alternatives to traditional burials as well as making the process more environmentally friendly in many countries. For many people it’s about the environmental impact of the funeral industry globally.

In the US, for instance, a surface equal to the size of Hawaii (1.6 million hectares) is deforested each year for manufacturing coffins. The amount of wood used is equal to building 4.5 million homes. Other costs include approximately 1.6 million tons of cement for graves. Carbon emissions from a single cremation are equivalent to those released by a private car driven for 3,369 kilometres.

Another factor is that many countries are running out of space in graveyards.

Discussions about the environmentally friendly aspects of dealing with death often take in woodland burial sites, memorials with bird boxes and using different coffin materials.

Two methods, burial and cremation, have been used in Europe for centuries. But a much wider range of burial techniques such as composting and water cremation are now starting to be offered more widely.

Water cremation, also called alkaline hydrolysis, is where the body is treated with 170°C hot water and an alkali-based solution, the results are then dried out, and ground down into a powder. These remains are then returned to relatives in an urn. This was introduced in Scotland as an option in March 2026 and is being discussed in England and Wales. It is also........

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