Green Burial: The Complete Guide to Eco-Friendly Death

Traditional burial has a significant environmental footprint. The Green Burial Council's published figures, compiled by Cornell researcher Mary Woodsen, put US burials at about 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid a year, 827,060 gallons of it formaldehyde, methanol and benzene, plus 1.6 million tons of concrete for burial vaults and 20 million board feet of hardwood ^[4]. Cremation uses far less land, and the Council puts the carbon dioxide from a single cremation at 139 to 250 pounds ^[4].

For a growing number of Americans, this matters. As environmental consciousness has increased, so has interest in alternatives that return the body to the earth more gently. Here's a guide to the options.

Start with the Green Burial Council's cemetery directory at greenburialcouncil.org. It's a searchable map of certified providers across North America ^[3]. You can search by location, filter by distance, and see whether each cemetery is certified as hybrid, natural, or conservation.

If you want the strictest standard, look for a conservation burial ground: land protected by a conservation easement or held by a land trust, with stronger preservation rules than other green cemeteries. If the map shows nothing near you, call conventional cemeteries directly and ask whether any section allows burial without a vault. Some do without ever seeking certification.

Questions to ask before you buy a plot:

Do you require a vault or grave liner? If the answer is yes for every section, it isn’t a green burial.

Do you allow shroud burial, or is a container required?

How are graves marked? Flat stone, native planting, and GPS coordinates are the common options.

Can the family be present for the burial, or help fill the grave? Policies differ.

Who maintains the land, and what happens if the cemetery closes or changes hands? A conservation easement is attached to the land and survives a sale. A verbal promise doesn’t.

Get the answers in writing before any money changes hands.

Green burial usually costs less than conventional burial, and the reason is what you aren’t buying: no embalming, no metal casket, no concrete vault, no polished granite headstone.

The ranges from this guide, pulled together in one place:

Natural burial: $1,000 to $4,000, against $8,000 to $12,000 for a conventional burial.

Aquamation: $2,000 to $3,500. Somewhat more than direct flame cremation, less than conventional burial.

Human composting: about $4,000 to $5,500.^[8] Pricier than aquamation, well under a conventional burial. Providers have opened since Recompose started and the price came down with them.

Prices vary by region and by cemetery type. Before you commit, get a complete itemized price list and ask what the plot price includes: opening and closing the grave, the marker, ongoing care of the land. For the conventional numbers in full, see how much a funeral costs in 2026.

Green burial means burying a body so it can decompose naturally and return to the soil. In practice, that requires three things: no embalming, no concrete vault or grave liner, and a container that biodegrades ^[1]. A shroud, a wicker casket, or a plain wooden box all qualify. The ground matters too. Certified green cemeteries manage their land without pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic fertilizers.

"Green burial" and "natural burial" describe the same practice, and you'll see the terms used interchangeably. The Green Burial Council, the nonprofit that sets the standards, certifies three kinds of burial grounds: hybrid cemeteries (conventional cemeteries with a section that permits burial without a vault), natural burial grounds (land dedicated to green burial and managed for it), and conservation burial grounds (burial grounds on land protected by a conservation easement or held by a land trust) ^[1].

What disqualifies a burial from being green is simple: formaldehyde embalming, a metal casket, or a concrete vault. A conventional American burial uses all three.

The green burial movement has grown significantly over the past decade. As of November 2024, the Green Burial Council listed 179 certified funeral homes and 73 certified cemeteries: 41 hybrid, 23 natural, and 9 conservation burial grounds. It also counts about 470 green burial cemeteries operating across the US and Canada. Certification is voluntary, so most of those aren't certified ^[4].

The growth is driven by several factors: environmental concern, cost (green burial is typically less expensive than conventional burial), a desire for a more natural death experience, and the broader cultural shift toward personalization in end-of-life rituals.

Interest keeps climbing. In NFDA's 2025 consumer survey, 61.4% of people said they'd be interested in exploring green funeral options, up from 55.7% in 2021 ^[5]. The market is responding to that.

Natural burial is the simplest and most widely available green option. It involves burying the body without embalming, in a biodegradable container (a shroud, a wicker casket, or a simple wooden box), in a cemetery that doesn’t require a burial vault.

The body decomposes naturally, returning its nutrients to the soil. In a natural burial cemetery, the grave is typically marked with a native plant, a stone, or GPS coordinates rather than a headstone. The cemetery itself is managed as a natural habitat rather than a manicured lawn.

Natural burial is legal in 50 states and Washington DC, though regulations vary. Some states require a burial container of some kind; others allow shroud burial. The Green Burial Council maintains a directory of certified natural burial cemeteries at greenburialcouncil.org ^[3].

Cost: Natural burial typically costs $1,000 to $4,000, compared to $8,000 to $12,000 for a conventional burial. The savings come primarily from eliminating embalming and the burial vault.

Aquamation, also called alkaline hydrolysis, water cremation, or bio-cremation, is a process that uses water, heat, and alkali to dissolve the soft tissue of the body, leaving only the bones. The bones are then processed into a fine powder, similar to the "ashes" from flame cremation, and returned to the family.

The process is estimated by the industry to use about 90% less energy than flame cremation, and it produces no direct carbon emissions. A peer-reviewed life cycle assessment of funeral options supports that comparison ^[2]. The liquid byproduct is sterile and can be safely disposed of in the municipal water system.

Aquamation is legal in 26 states by the Cremation Association of North America's count as of 2026, and more states have legislation pending ^[6]. It isn’t yet universally available. You’ll need to check whether there’s a provider in your area. The Green Burial Council maintains a directory of providers ^[3].

Cost: Aquamation typically costs $2,000 to $3,500, somewhat more than direct flame cremation but less than conventional burial.

Notable: Archbishop Desmond Tutu chose aquamation for his own remains in 2021, bringing significant international attention to the option.

Human composting, officially called Natural Organic Reduction (NOR), is the newest and most dramatic of the green burial options. The body is placed in a vessel with wood chips, alfalfa, and straw. Over approximately 30 to 60 days, microbial activity breaks down the body into approximately one cubic yard of nutrient-rich compost.

The family can receive the compost and use it in a garden, or donate it to conservation land. The process uses about 87% less energy than conventional burial and sequesters carbon rather than releasing it.

Human composting is currently legal in Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, New York, Nevada, Arizona, Minnesota, and a handful of other states. California legalized it in 2022, but the law doesn't take effect until January 1, 2027. The pioneer company in the space, Recompose, is based in Seattle and has been operating since 2020.

Cost: as of 2026, human composting runs about $4,000 to $5,500, which undercuts a conventional burial.^[8] Advocates expect prices to decrease as the industry scales.

Mushroom burial suits: Biodegradable suits or shrouds embedded with mushroom spores that accelerate decomposition and neutralize toxins. Ask a green funeral home or burial ground what mushroom or biodegradable shroud options they carry. Used in natural burial settings.

Memorial reefs: Cremated remains are mixed with concrete and formed into artificial reef structures that are placed on the ocean floor. Companies like Eternal Reefs operate in coastal states.

Tree burial: Cremated remains are mixed with soil and used to nurture a tree. Several companies offer memorial tree services, and some natural burial cemeteries allow tree planting over a grave.

Space burial: A small portion of cremated remains can be launched into space. Companies like Celestis offer this service, though it's expensive and involves only a small portion of the remains. Celestis prices start at $3,495 for a flight to space and back, $4,995 for Earth orbit, and $12,995 for the moon or deep space ^[7].

If you want a green burial, the most important thing you can do is document your wishes and tell someone. Green burial options aren’t yet universally available, and funeral homes vary widely in their familiarity with them. A family that doesn't know your wishes may default to conventional options simply because they don't know what else to do. Put your wishes in writing. An advance directive is the right place to document disposition preferences alongside your healthcare wishes.

Write your preferences in your advance directive or a separate document. Specify: the type of disposition you want, the provider you've researched, and any specific wishes (e.g., no embalming, biodegradable container only).

Research providers in your area. The Green Burial Council's directory is the best starting point. If you live in an area without green burial options, consider pre-arranging with a provider in a nearby area, or pre-paying for transport to a provider of your choice.

Consider pre-planning. Many green burial providers offer pre-arrangement services, allowing you to lock in your wishes and, in some cases, the price.