The Centre for Natural Burial

By Julia Carlisle, Courier Mail

THERE’S a burning environmental issue that Robert Larkins wants to address and he’s dead serious about it.  If we really want to help the planet we should stop getting cremated, says Larkins, the author of Funeral Rights, a new book about the Australian funeral industry.

Cremation, the choice of most Australians, will reduce us to a tidy pile of ash but also a puff of greenhouse gas.

“They’ll be burned wastefully in timber or chipboard coffins containing noxious glues,” he says. “Cremation produces carbon dioxide and pollutants that go directly into the atmosphere.”

One cremation produces up to 50 litres of C02, says South Australian MP Bob Such, who is moving for more environmentally friendly burials in his state.

Larkins says the problems of cremation are often compounded by people who take personal items into the afterlife with them, such as mobile phones and, curiously, TV remote controls. “Mobile phones and TV remote controls are the two most popular items, and contain lead,” he says. “Synthetic clothing and silicone breast implants also create C02 emissions.”

Over the past 50 years cremation has become more popular, and now more than half of the population chooses cremation rather than burial, according to Australia’s funeral industry.

To cremate a body, a furnace is burned at 690C and it takes at least 70 minutes for a body to be reduced to ash.

Larkins says a greener alternative to cremation is the creation of so-called natural burial grounds which use the body in a way that helps the environment. The idea is that burials take place in a natural surrounding, with native trees or wooden plaques taking the place of tombstones.

The body, contained in a biodegradable coffin or wrapped in a shroud, acts as a fertiliser, helping to regenerate the area.

There are no official natural burial grounds in Australia but there are moves to establish one on the outskirts of Adelaide within 12 months.

Some communities are also working to establish natural burial sites at a local government level, where forestry departments and Landcare are being called on for advice.

In creating a natural burial ground, it’s important to make sure it’s in keeping with the natural environment, says natural burial advocate Professor Roger Short, of Melbourne University. “We need to plant indigenous trees and re-create the habitat that once existed.

“We’re a tree-loving nation. We love our jarrah, our Huon pine, our red river gum and mountain ash. Being buried at the base of a tree is such a simple way to go, and the tree is your memorial.

“It’s the best sequester of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that’s ever been invented, powered by sunlight and giving off oxygen as a waste product.”

Coffin choice is also important, Larkins says. We should be buried in biodegradable coffins made out of cardboard or in simple shrouds, so the body is exposed to more oxygen and breaks down faster in the soil.

Embalming would not be allowed at a natural burial site because of the toxins used. Granite headstones, mined in China and shipped to Australia, would also be discouraged. “The idea of having a name on a stone isn’t as relevant as it once was, people are moving away from formal memorialisation,” Larkins says. “The actual place of burial is more important.”