ECO-FRIENDLY FUNERALS AND GREEN BURIAL
It is inescapable. Anywhere and everywhere we look, we see messaging that
touts a company’s 'green' initiatives or public service announcements that encourage
us to be environmentally friendly. Although these messages pervade, what exactly do
they mean and how do they (or how should they) effect our actions? Are marketers
using 'greenspeak' to gain market share or are companies altruistic in their goals to
protect the environment? The answers to these questions are elusive, yet the messages
are influencing consumers across nearly all industries and businesses must adapt to the
changing trends.
As individuals express concern about their carbon footprints and the natural
resources they use, eco-friendly funerals and green burial are two growing trends in
the death care industry.
Many environmentally conscious people make it known in their final wishes
that they want a 'green' funeral. 'Green' funerals and 'green' burials stray away from
the traditional funeral and burial and sometimes, even cremation. They can range
from a normal memorial service in a simple pine casket and being buried with only a
simple ground-level fieldstone marker in a 'green' cemetery to being wrapped in a
burial shroud and buried, with no marker under a tree. Some individuals choose to be
cremated and have their cremains placed in a concrete vessel that will become part of
a 'memorial reef'.
The 'green' options seem endless. Does this emerging trend mean that
deathcare professionals need to throw out their current business plans and start anew?
The numbers supporting such a drastic change are not sufficient enough to justify such
a drastic change. However, modifying existing plans to gear some offerings towards
this emerging market may not be a horrible idea.
The Landscape
According to an article by Cheryl Corley on NPR.org, "a 'green funeral'
shun[s] chemical preservatives, traditional heavy metal and wood caskets, and other
features of modern costly burials." Proponents of the 'green' alternatives promote is
as low cost and highly personal compared to traditional burial. Most of the 'green
burials' are comprised of interring un-embalmed remains in easily biodegradable cloth,
cardboard, wicker or wood containers.
Joe Sehee, Executive Director of the Green Burial Council said, "We bury
enough embalming fluid to fill eight Olympic-size swimming pools, enough metal to
build the Golden Gate Bridge, and so much reinforced concrete burial vaults that we
could build a two-lane highway from New York to Detroit." Green Burial advocates
argue that the use of limited resources and the use of space are detrimental to our
environmental health and that the high costs of traditional funerals make ‘going
green’ the only choice.
The National Funeral Directors Association places the average cost of a
traditional funeral at $6,500 plus any additional cemetery costs. Also, according to
CNN.com, the deathcare industry pumps around $11 billion into the economy. If the
'green burial' trend continues to grow, the shift will effect the industry from suppliers
of the raw material for caskets to casket manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors,
funeral professionals to memorial and grave marker businesses, and to cemeteries. The
ripples will have a major impact on the market and marketplace.
The impact on the market could be lessened by taking a proactive approach and
altering strategies and messaging. The CNN.com article states that "biodegradable
containers cost from $100 for a basic cardboard box up to $3000 for a handcrafted,
hand-painted model." The 'green' market segment can be captured and deathcare
professionals can offer not only more options for their clients, but also portray a more
eco-friendly corporate image.
Conflicting Views
According to a column posted on funeralwire.com, Professor Robert Short, a
reproductive biologist at the University of Melbourne, avers that "the age-old tradition
of cremation...contribute[s] to global warming." The column suggests that the
practice least harmful to the environment would be "being buried in a cardboard box
under a tree." This practice, short says would provide nutrients to the tree and assist
in the trees processes of converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. However, the article
goes on to suggest that the decomposition of the body would release harmful elements
such as mercury, arsenic, formaldehyde, and even radioisotopes into the soil
contaminating the soil and groundwater. These conflicting views lead the reader to
believe that there may not be a right answer to the question of a truly 'green' burial.
The lack of a concrete answer creates confusion over the best way to be 'green'
for perpetuity. Strong, targeted marketing messages become one of the most
influential tools in effecting people's decision making process for their final plans.
Creating a 'green' or 'greener' offering may capture prospects looking for an
environmentally minded option.
What is Next?
As the playing field changed with the emerging popularity of cremation, the
deathcare business adapted. According to the Cremation Association of North
America(CANA), 40 percent of funerals, if growth trends continue, will include
cremation by 2010. The introduction and diversification of cremation casket lines,
personalization capabilities of rental caskets, and entry into cremain memorial
products are all adaptations that have been made to embrace the shift toward
cremation. Many companies are being created and capitalizing on this and the ‘green’
shift in the industry. One such company, according to funeralwire.com, is Atlantabased
Eternal Reefs, Inc. They incorporate cremains into cast concrete balls and place
them in the ocean to create 'Memorial Reefs' that will become habitats for marine life.
They have built their business on providing a 'reen' alternative to the traditional
funeral and burial. New ideas are emerging everyday.
Although 'green burials' and 'green funerals' comprise only a small segment in
the market, the current trends and future projections say that it is a growing segment.
With that in mind, the deathcare industry must look at the best way to adapt. Some
will embrace change, some will struggle, and some will fail. However, the deathcare
industry will always exist in one form or another. As companies do adapt to 'greener'
practices, Joe Sehee hopes that the concept behind the eco-friendly movement is not
diluted and doesn’t "get green-washed down the drain."
Works Cited
cnn.com
npr.org
funeralwire.com
