What is Green Funeral? Here at A Journey With Wings we scatter cremated remains by airplane, therefore, we get asked questions about green funeral options.
It is thought that a traditional burial has practices that have a significant environmental impact. For example, embalming fluid contains formaldehyde, caskets use vital resources such as wood steel copper and bronze, and burial vaults placed millions of tons of reinforced concrete into the ground.
A Green funeral is a funeral that is performed in a manner that lessens the environmental impact. For example, in a green funeral, the body may not be embalmed nor is the casket placed in any kind of vault. Often the casket is made from a biodegradable material or there is no casket at all, rather the body is wrapped in a cloth.
On the surface, one wouldn’t think that cremation would be considered part of a green funeral, however, according to Treehugger.com, cremation is listed as one of their top ten green funeral tips. Today, cremation produces far less pollution than in the past. Cremation also does not contribute to the 30 million board feet of hardwoods and 90,000 tons of steel, or 2,700 tones of copper to make caskets. Nor does it contribute to the 1,000,000 plus tons of reinforced concrete for burial vaults or the 827,000 gallons of embalming fluid.
Here at A Journey With Wings, we feel that scattering of ashes is environmentally friendly. Cremated remains are considered sterile and have no environmental impact. Scattering of ashes returns the cremated remains back to nature.
If you have any questions about a green funeral or cremation and scattering please contact us and we would be happy to discuss it with you further.