Waukesha cemetery considers going green with burials
Commission also wants to sell markers to allow pet burials
By LINDA McALPINE, Waukesha Freeman
Those who wish to be kind to the environment when they die might soon be able to opt for a “green” burial at Prairie Home Cemetery.
Members of the cemetery commission for the city-owned cemetery discussed Monday having Prairie Home become one of the first cemeteries in the country to have not only a special section set aside for green burials, but to also allow them throughout the grounds.
“A green burial is basically a way to go back to the idea of ashes to ashes and dust to dust. There is no embalming or vault and the person is buried in a pine or corrugated cardboard and wood box or a simple burial shroud,” said David Brenner, cemetery manager. “Green burials are starting to be more and more appealing to people.”
Brenner said a separate area of the cemetery would be set aside for just such burials, but “if Mrs. Smith wants to be buried next to her husband in the traditional cemetery and wants a green burial, that should be allowed, too.”
“I think we’d be one of the few cemeteries in the country to do both,” he said.
Although a new trend in burials, green burials are actually very old, Brenner said.
“It’s the way burials used to be and even today, a simple burial is part of many cultures,” he said.
Another idea the cemetery is pursuing is that of establishing a section of land, separate from human burials, for pet burials.
The cemetery commission has been working on the plan since last summer and has succeeded in getting the wording of a city ordinance changed to allow for pet burials. A change in the definition of a cemetery had to be made – from a place for the burial of human remains to a place for the burial of remains.
The next step is to make another ordinance change, this one to allow the cemetery to sell grave markers for buried pets.
The city-owned cemetery is banned by ordinance from selling tombstones, urns and vaults, so as not to compete with local businesses. An exception would have to be added to the ordinance for the sale of only pet cemetery items.
“If we can’t sell these products for the pet cemetery, then we probably won’t do pet burials,” Brenner said.
“We want to be able to provide these things, as there isn’t a pet memorial business in the area,” said Bill Beglinger, commission president.
The ordinance change will be presented to the city’s ordinance and license committee at its 7 p.m. March 17 meeting at City Hall, 201 Delafield St.