'Eco-friendly' burial is becoming a trend!

Originating from the US, the 'green burial' movement is gradually gaining popularity in many countries around the world, especially in Europe. Environmental activists have tried to call for the replication of the burial model, while funeral companies have also found opportunities to do business for themselves.

Hand-digging graves, bodies not marinated with chemicals .

After two long years of fighting the evil cancer, Joseph Fitzgerald finally had to leave the world to 'return to God'. Before he left, his wish was for his children to be buried in the most natural way possible, so that his body would be fully sent to the motherland.

Two months later, in accordance with the will, Joseph Fitzgerald's body was buried in an open space in the beech forest of the conservation cemetery of Prairie Creek in a rural area of ​​Florida. Initially their children did not know what to do to be able to fulfill the final wishes of the deceased, but then they also found a burial service that met this.

'Mai táng xanh', this is a relatively new concept, but many people throughout the United States and some other Western countries have begun to be known and popular.

Joseph Fitzgerald's grave was completely dug by hand, unpainted natural wood coffin, without the use of embalming substances when shrouded. There are no products of modern times used for burial, everything is prepared like a funeral hundreds of years ago. On his grave, there was only a small wooden plaque.

Descendants give him a small piece of soil, slightly raised slightly above the surrounding. After only a few years, under the impact of nature, these two traces will completely disappear. At that time, perhaps he had completely returned to nature, in the most natural way.

It is known that Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery has 43 deceased people buried here in the form of green burial since it was opened in late July 2010.

For decades, in the United States, sarcophagus coffins are often made of steel or industrial wood with glue and painted with toxic chemicals. Some places are also made of glass fiber, then covered with high quality plastic, wood-fake paint, copper.

Dead bodies were also embalmed with chemicals to keep cold during the funeral. There are many different types of embalming substances, but all contain a major component of formaldehyde - a substance that is very toxic to humans and nature.

In burial green, the coffin is made of rattan and paperboard, or wood, and self-destruct within three months to several years.

Green burial is completely opposite. The burial of the deceased completely uses natural, 'environmentally friendly' materials from A to Z. For example, coffins made of rattan and paperboard, thicker, use wood, with family-made decorations, and self-destruct within three months to several years . It contributes to reducing carbon emissions, protecting the health of living people and restoring or preserving the surrounding environment.

Mummification during burial is also very important. In the past, during the process of handling the remains before the burial, people also used many toxic embalming chemicals, and they could penetrate into the soil after being buried. But in the burial green, the body was not marinated in any chemical but only dressed in pure fiber, at the same time chilled or used dry ice.

Even recently, artist Jae Rhim Lee in the United States had an idea of ​​designing a 'eternal burial' outfit . The clothes are embroidered with special fibers mixed with permanent mushroom spores. When buried in the ground, fungal spores work to clean dead bodies containing toxins in cells or internal organs. Mr. Lee said that the human body is a filter and a place to store toxins from the environment.

The goal of design is to eliminate toxins in a sustainable and environmentally beneficial way, to overcome the limitations of other burial forms. Costumes costing 999 USD are cheaper than burial costs (1,181 USD in 2014) and cremation (an average of 6,087 USD) in the US.

The future of burial industry

Billy Campbell, a rural doctor in South Carolina, was the first to launch the movement in 1998. Since then, it has grown rapidly and has gradually become one of the major burial forms. There are up to 30 cemeteries dedicated to this burial form throughout the United States.

The most recent survey conducted by Kate-Boylton, the funeral company, found that 43% of the elderly surveyed said they might choose this form of rest after their death. This rate has increased significantly compared to the 21% figure collected by AARP research firm just a year earlier.

This shows that American perception of this form has changed drastically. From doubt, now, 'green burial' is becoming the choice of those who are about to step into the afterlife.

Many people want to bury themselves in the most natural way, so that the body can be fully sent to the motherland.

Not only is a form of environmental protection, 'green burial' also opens up a new business opportunity for funeral service companies. Mr. Freddie Johnson, chairman of the US Green Burial Council (GBC - The Green Burial Council) commented, thanks to the increasing awareness of environmental protection of the people, this potential market will remain. continued to grow strongly in many years.

In particular, businesses are completely exempt from tax and always receive maximum assistance from the US government, so this particular market is even more attractive. According to Freddie, in 2011, in the US alone, this business had approximately half a billion dollars in revenue. This number is constantly increasing in impressive speed.

Another reason also contributed to promoting Americans to choose 'burial green' which is the cost. Compared to traditional burial, green burial is much cheaper. For example, a steel coffin costing between US $ 6-10,000, the burial green only uses coffins of pine, bamboo and willow wood, even from cardboard or dried banana bananas, and the cost of such a coffin is only from 500 to 1000 USD. Manual gravel digging is the equivalent of renting a excavator but leaving the category of reinforced concrete tomb below.

In all terms, the cost of green burial is only about 40% of that of traditional burial. This is an impressive number, because not all American elderly have a generous amount of money to take care of their posterity.

With the advantages of 'mutually beneficial', it is understandable that green burial is becoming more and more popular in the US and Western countries. Green burial cemeteries are formed everywhere and many 'green' resting places are pre-registered, repelling heavy traditional burial forms in terms of technology and abuse of technology, consuming resources.

According to GBC's prediction, within a decade, green burial will officially overcome cremation, becoming the most popular form of rest. This is also the way to bring people back to dust, to nature in the closest, lightest way.

There are many other types in the world.Ecological burial (composting) studied and developed by Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak. Or the Resomation method - use water and alkali to break down the body instead of high temperatures. The body of the dead is enclosed in a silk coffin and is put into a steel chamber with potassium hydroxide under a pressure of about 10atm.

The temperature is set at 180 degrees Celsius, 80% lower than the standard temperature in conventional incinerators. High pressure and temperature will decompose the corpse in 2 - 3 hours, the rest of the bone is crushed and put into a jar containing ashes. In addition, the silk coffin was also hydrolyzed according to the corpse.