Holistic, Eco & Natural Funerals

Environmental consciousness, sustainable use of resources and minimizing our carbon footprint are key principles to an increasing number of our clients. At Mark J. Floyd Funeral Services we offer a full range of environmentally friendly and ethical options for funeral services, combined with referral services to professional psychological and grief counseling to truly provide holistic funeral care.

Sadly, there is a lot of misrepresentation of what actually constitutes sustainable funeral options and less than scrupulous funeral providers looking to exploit buzzwords without any factual basis behind their products or services.

I like to break it down to 3 key areas, Principles, Products and Procedures.

DISCLAIMER: My name is Broderick Floyd, I am the owner and operator of Mark J. Floyd Funeral Services and also the author of all content on this website. What follows in this essay is my truth presented in as unbiased a manner as I can manage, whilst still endeavoring to talk delicately about things that are sometimes indelicate by their nature. Many funeral websites are engineered to generate clicks through slick marketing strategies devised by people with no hands on experience, but it is my hope that 'actual information' in place of vague 'feelings and virtues' will help you (who are actively pursuing information, hence reading this) to be better informed and make the decisions regards funeral services that are right for your needs.

PRINCIPLES

Firstly we need to talk facts. The human body is nearly 60% water. Humans are a carbon based organism. The purpose of burial or cremation from a very pragmatic, scientific viewpoint is to return the remains of a carbon based organism to inert form (non-toxic, non-hazardous matter) without exposing other humans whilst this is occurring and risk making them sick.

  • Burials are a natural 'carbon sink', the deceased is buried so that the natural bacteria, alcohols and organisms can return the once living matter of the deceased to inert, non-hazardous, natural organic building blocks from which the earth is renewed. As mentioned above, the human body is nearly 60% water and during this process the water is removed from our tissue as it is broken down. This is where I have to use what is usually a word we try to avoid in the funeral industry, 'decomposition'. Decomposition is the name of this process, unmaking the complex complex structures, and returning them to their basic building blocks. The human body is a remarkable thing, and aided by natural organisms from within and outside our bodies this process begins once the deceased has been buried and depending on temperature, groundwater, chemical makeup and PH level, this process takes months or even years to complete.

  • Cremation speeds up this process with the use of a catalyst 'Heat' instead of bacteria and natural organisms. The heat dehydrates the human tissues and turns the complex structures of the human body to ash, which is non-hazardous and inert. Instead of taking months or years for the remains of the deceased to be 'safe' it takes a matter of minutes. However this has a cost, the heat used to catalyze this process comes from burning a fossil fuel which is usually natural gas. Natural gas does burn cleaner than most other fossil fuels and modern crematoriums are heavily monitored by the EPA for the emissions the produce, with great effort given to being as efficient as possible and monitoring/minimizing any still reactive products (NOx etc.) that may enter the atmosphere.

  • The purpose of a coffin from a 'bio-security perspective' is to provide a physical barrier between the deceased and the living so that any potentially infectious organisms (that either caused death, or that have begun as part of the decomposition process) are contained.

The Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 has requirements for what a coffin needs to be made from and lined with for this very reason. Very simply, the coffin is designed to remain largely intact and contain the body and the organisms and bacteria that are returning the body to the earth (hence the term ashes to ashes, dust to dust) within the boundary of the coffin. Why? Because although burial creates a further barrier (earth + coffin) there is still potential for uncontained byproducts of the decomposition process to enter the environment through groundwater, especially when we consider that a cemetery is not just one isolated burial but many. The coffin is designed to breakdown once these byproducts have ceased to be potentially hazardous and fully return to the earth.

PRODUCTS

Cardboard coffins, Cane coffins, Enviro-board coffins, Solid timber coffins, Eco-Burials and Eco-Cremations are all terms I have seen in advertising. What do they mean and are they actually 'eco/enviro'?

From a marketing perspective, everything can be marketed as an 'environmental choice' as the term very hard to define against an objective measure. It also depends on the measures we choose to use to define the sustainability of the particular product. Are we using a holistic combination of raw materials, processing inputs (carbon, water, chemical), the human cost and transport, and how do we weight these different factors against one another?

  • Cardboard coffins are very environmentally friendly if our only concern is the use of raw materials. By using recycled paper and cardboard the number of trees harvested can be reduced. BUT, the processing inputs in both carbon emissions and chemicals to re-pulp the recycled paper, and the glues used to make the resultant board strong enough to be used as a coffin mean that when taken in context there is no net environmental benefit. The coffin is also often wrapped in vinyl or painted and this also mitigates it's environmental credentials.

  • Cane or wicker coffins make use of a naturally bountiful product that would otherwise be a waste and find a use for it. The downside is that they are made overseas in third world countries where the workers who construct them are not afforded the same protections we demand for ourselves in Australia and whose farming facilities for the raw products are not regulated to the same standard.

  • Enviro-board coffins is probably the most deceptive product label in my experience. Enviroboard is simply refering to the material that most coffins are already made of, particle board (MDF, Chipboard, Craftwood). Now particle board has as many upsides and downsides as any other product. On the pro side: it is produced in bulk so the processes have been refined to make them as sustainable as their business model will allow, the board itself is made from the byproducts that would otherwise be disgarded from the waste products solid timber. It is strong, uniform and dense which allows less material to be used to manufacture a coffin of appropriate standard. On the Con side: the raw material has processed, either by a machine or chemicals to form a matrix that is then formed into a board with resin (however compared to cardboard the levels of chemicals and glues are much less due to the inherent strength of small wood particles compared to cardboard pulp). These coffins are most often veneered and/or varnished adding to the chemical content and carbon input.

  • Solid timber coffins on the surface seem to be the most environmentally sustainable option. Timber is felled, milled and formed into a coffin with a minimum of chemicals or glues. From a carbon input perspective, solid timber is unmatched. But this is not the entire picture. Whilst the options mentioned above are all created from waste or byproducts, solid timber coffins use prime materials; for a short-term, single use item. The quality of material needed means that most timber is not suitable, so timber used is comparable to that used for high end furniture (comparatively a multi-use long term product). This propagates a need for increased numbers of trees consumed compared to other alternatives. The byproducts of the timber are still created and used for cardboard/particle board. The truly sustainable way to do this would be to use naturally felled timber, but this would most likely be impracticable, unsuitable and prohibitively expensive.

Perhaps the most important fact contained on this page is next: Environmentally friendly DOES NOT equal cost effective. The way the world got into it's current predicament is arguably because when faced with the choice between 'environmentally friendly' and 'cost effective' for most of the last 200 years we chose the latter. In a few cases these two considerations line up, but mostly the orthodox is the orthodox because that is what costs the least. Anyone marketing environmental products for less cost than their standard offering is cutting corners somewhere. I ask you to consider every other product or service that you use in your life, is the sustainable choice ever cheaper than the standard one?

The most common example of this in relation to funeral products is coffins. At Mark J. Floyd Funeral Services we use coffins made in Australia to Australian manufacturing and environmental standards, by Australians who are employed in OH&S compliant workplaces and paid correctly under Australian law, from sustainable Australian plantation timber products. Our coffins are also made relatively locally (Ballarat) and therefore the transport costs and emissions are as small as we can manage. Most of the coffins we use are made from craft-wood, however we do offer solid timber or partially solid timber coffins as well. Anecdotally this is for most of our clients the sweet spot between cost, quality and sustainability. We could source our coffins for less, but there are certain standards and principles that I have, (and I'm the boss) so I don't have to compromise them and that allows me to sleep at night.

I've done the research on this, and I've seen funeral providers offering 'Enviro-coffins' for far less than our standard offering. These are without doubt being produced overseas or they're not as environmentally friendly as their marketed. The quality of materials used, the sustainability of their source and the environmental and (just as importantly) human cost of their production IS NOT to the same standards as ours, if it were the cost would be comparable to the same Australian-made ones. Disregarding the previous statements and assuming the sustainable standards of production are comparable to ours and the cost is still significantly cheaper, the most sustainable coffin manufactured in the world would still be shipped from overseas on an oil burning bulk carrier over a distance of 20,000km. That kind of takes the shine off.

The standard of these products is also woeful from a quality and appearance perspective. They are not designed with knowledge or input from the Australian market and are often not built with the size and weight of Australians in mind. They are however designed to be fit the most possible number into a shipping container, which I suppose is one concession to sustainability.

There is no 'perfect' environmental option. And even if there were, the desire to satisfy our other emotional requirements means that compromises need to be made. I have heard of a funeral director not installing handles on a coffin as an environmental benefit, but this came with the unexpected and unwanted consequence that the coffin was unable to be carried by the family. There do sometimes need to be compromises made for the sake of your other needs and that is where we try to guide you.

Eco-Burial just isn't as big of a thing as it's marketed to be. Natural cemeteries with no plaques or monuments do exist, but you are also not forced to have any memorial at a 'conventional cemetery' and this still does not change that the coffin is placed into the earth in the same manner at either cemetery. When viewed as a whole (the total number of graves vs. those that are conventional/natural) the outcome is exactly the same except for the optics that your grave is immediately surrounded by other 'natural' graves and that is your right. The devil is in the detail with this as often the 'Eco' component of this name often doesn't refer to the cemetery or method of burial, but that the deceased has not been embalmed (reducing chemicals placed into the earth) and/or that the coffin has been chosen to be as environmentally friendly as possible (again reducing materials/chemicals placed into the earth, please see coffin descriptions above).

I do not embalm our clients. Modern refrigeration (solar powered in our case) makes this null and void. The physical appearance and safety are not compromised at all. Embalming is not legally required in Australia and there are very few cases where it may be required in case of long distance repatriation of the deceased or a very significant delay from the time of death to the funeral (rare in my experience, twice in the last 10 years). It is also very invasive (from my perspective) and even though embalming chemicals have modernized, i just don't see any significant benefit that outweighs the environmental and financial costs. We can organize it on request, but when explained to our customers the uptake rate is evidently not high.

The next question I seem to get about 'enviro-burials' is often prompted by several videos/articles that circulate on social media, ie. burial pods and upright burials. Burial pods don't exist and if they did they would be impossible to use for a number of basic reasons: including weight, centre of gravity, the need for a product to be biodegradable vs. it's need to be sturdy enough to use. Upright burials do exist, and from a sustainable use of land perspective initially carry some weight. However when we consider that most graves I have used in the last 20 years are 'double depth' for 2 interments, the space saving is negligible. It's really only changing the direction the coffin as it's interred by 90 degrees, and the burials per square metre isn't any different.

Eco-Cremation is just a fallacy. Cremation the same wherever it is done, there is no 'environmental' option in regards to fuel source or method which is what the common conception is. Again this is referring to embalming, and the materials the coffin is constructed from. Yes, the coffin is cremated, despite the common misconception that it isn't, it's required by law and it would be near on impossible to conduct the cremation without one. It can also refer to the material of the urn that the ashes are returned to the family in.

Cremation is marketed as a sustainable choice for one very good reason. It does reduce the amount of land that needs to be cleared, reserved and used for cemeteries, in itself is a not insignificant environmental benefit. In Europe, burial is the more expensive option by a magnitude of 10, with cremation subsidized due to the limited amount of space available after few millennia of human civilization.

There is also the social media article about chemical cremation where the deceased is dissolved in strong alkaline and then that solution is reduced until a fine chemical residue or 'ashes' is left. Not only does this sound very 'Dexter'-y, I do not imagine the production of the chemicals used (with my admittedly limited knowlege of chemical engineering and manufacturing) or the process to be significantly more environmentally friendly than 'regular' cremation.

PROCEDURES

Sometimes folk see the suit with the tails, the 19th century chapel and in general the very traditional and conservative approach to funerals and think that wanting something different from the orthodox isn't possible. Nothing could be further from the truth. Funeral directors are not prescriptive, our presentation and the products and services we offer are a reflection of the wants and needs of the majority of our client base. In the main, our clients have traditional beliefs structures and come overwhelmingly from a fairly straightforward anglo-celtic tradition when it comes to funeral practice that could be summarized as 'simple, respectful and loving but not too over the top or extravagant.'

The 'orthodox' is though forever evolving. The funeral expectations of your grandparent's generation, compared to your parents, and thinking forwards to yours have slowly but constantly adapted and will continue to do so. Because we may do something as standard today does not mean that in 10-20-30 years we will still do so.

And in any case, you don't have to have something because that's what everyone else does. You also don't have to find a 'niche' funeral director with the buzzwords you're looking for in their company name or motto to be able to create the personalized experience you are after. We (and in fact most funeral directors) take great pride in creating individualized funerals, there's no greater privilege than working with a family to facilitate the service that is right for them. We can hold funerals anywhere, from your house, to a park to the golf course and everywhere in between. You don't even need to have us present at your 'memorial' at all, and we can only provide the very practical elements of our work. It's your choice, you are the customer and you're always right (well most of the time, some things are just impossible).

To be frank, the biggest limiting factor of increased individualism and personalization is cost. The 'standard' is often that way because it straddles the competing requirements of cost, quality and time (the old adage of Cheap/Quick/Good: Pick 2 - If it's it's good and quick it wont be cheap and if it's cheap and quick it wont be good). The vast majority of our clients who make pre-arranged and pre-paid funeral plans would rather leave their financial resources as their legacy to their family; rather than spend large sums on personalizing their funerals. We are extremely mindful of this and therefore don't push products and services, but by the same token we are receptive to any unique needs and desires.

To provide services that are as sustainable as possible there are many steps in the funeral arrangement process we take to minimize our impact and do our absolute best to provide natural, holistic funeral care.

  • Reduce as much as possible the amount of automotive travel involved in arranging and conducting the funeral.

  • Update our equipment and vehicles in pace with improvements in sustainable technology

  • Holding funeral services in venues that require minimal use of resources and sourcing them from renewable sources

  • Reconsidering the need for printed press notices in newspapers

  • Trying to use as ecologically sound funeral products as possible, considering the raw materials used, processes used in manufacturing and methods used to get this product to our customer.

  • Considering our need for and the type of floral arrangements needed

  • Reconsidering our need for non-essential materials and processes

  • General mindfulness of the sustainability of the means, methods and materials used

  • Uphold the highest ethical standards for the deceased, their family & the broader community

At Mark J. Floyd Funeral Services, we do not target any niche or segment of the market. We operate our business in a small community and provide funeral services for all walks of life, beliefs, cultures, religions and budgets. We are adaptable and knowledgeable of the multitude of options you have and do our best to give honest advice. It would be a privilege to discuss further any questions you may have in relation to Natural, Environmentally friendly and Holistic funeral services.