From Ashes to Earth: Biodegradable Urns and Eco-Friendly Cremation in California

Climate change and environmental concerns support the popularity of biodegradable urns and eco-friendly cremation. Learn how you can make them a part of your after-life plans.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Eco-Friendly Cremation vs. Burial
• Making Cremation Even More Eco-Friendly
• Opal Can Assist with Your Eco-Friendly Cremation
• FAQs
• Additional Resources

Key Takeaways

• Environmental concerns have contributed to the growing popularity of biodegradable urns and eco-friendly cremation in California and throughout the world.
• Cremation is naturally eco-friendly because it doesn’t use as much land and energy resources and produces minimal emissions, as compared to burials.
• You can make cremation even more eco-friendly by planting a tree in your loved one’s memory, planting a memorial garden, or choosing alkaline hydrolysis.

Introduction

As climate change impacts the atmosphere, causing storms, outages, illness, and pollution, many of us are wondering what we can do to save the environment. This can mean recycling, composting, or buying an electric vehicle. It also means choosing eco-friendly cremation.

Traditional funerals are fine for some Los Angeles families, but they involve burying non-biodegradable boxes and metal caskets in the ground and using precious land. Cremation is an eco-friendly choice with benefits that can be enhanced through memorial gardens, biodegradable urns, tree-planting, and other environmental strategies. Find out how the choices you make during life can save the Earth after you’re gone.

Eco-Friendly Cremation vs. Burial

Let’s start by comparing cremation and burial in terms of their environmental impact.

Cremation isn’t entirely environmentally friendly, as it requires fossil fuels and the burning process creates pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and mercury. However, it has a much smaller land footprint than burial, which offers the following disadvantages:

• Carbon Emissions: These are created through manufacturing and transporting caskets, and through maintaining cemetery grounds through mowing, irrigation, and fertilizer use.
• Resource Use and Pollution: Bodies that are buried are often embalmed with fluid that contains formaldehyde, a toxic and carcinogenic chemical. Caskets also require the production of hardwood, metals, concrete, and steel, which, in turn, rely on carbon-intensive factory processes and consume natural resources.
• Land Use: Cemeteries require great areas of land that could otherwise be used for housing, public services, green spaces, and wildlife habitats.

Cremation is also preferred over funerals by many Southern California families because it is:

• Significantly Less Expensive: According to UnitedTissue.org, burials average $8,300, while cremations are $1,000 to $2,000.
• Provide More Freedom: A traditional funeral usually involves a mournful ceremony where people are buried in the ground. A direct cremation is a simple process that allows families to plan celebrations of life, best suited to their loved one, at a later date. For example, they may plan a sea scattering, order a cremation diamond, parting stone, or ash jewelry, or have a celebration of life with or without cremation fireworks.
• Less Planning: Direct cremation is a simple, straightforward process that can be handled virtually. A funeral requires picking out a casket, planning a service, coordinating with a church, and other planning tasks that can be difficult to handle during grief.

Making California Cremation Even More Eco-Friendly

Cremation itself is eco-friendly, but you can be even kinder to the earth with the following techniques.

Bio Urns, or Biodegradable Urns

Traditionally, the word “urn” conjures up ideas of metallic, sleek containers made of metal. However, you can also choose more eco-friendly biodegradable urns made from materials that break down easily and don’t take years to decompose. Materials that make up biodegradable cremation urns include:

• Recycled paper
• Clay
• Sand
• Rock salt
• Bamboo
• And, yes, even cornstarch

Put Your Loved One’s Ashes into a Tree

For green thumbs, this might sound impossible. Can your loved one’s cremains cause a tree to grow? Well, in all honesty, no, since human cremains yield high pH levels. However, a pH-neutralizing agent enables the process.

Here’s what’s involved in the process:

1. Place the ashes into a biodegradable urn and mix them with a pH-neutralizing agent.
2. Pick a tree based on your loved one’s preferences and the growing climate.
3. Select and prepare the site – ensure it has adequate lighting and drainage. Prepare the site by digging a hole 12-18 inches deep.
4. Lower the bio-urn into the ground, ensuring it’s well-positioned and level.
5. Fill the hole with native soil and tamp down firmly. Stake the spot if necessary.
6. Water thoroughly and continue watering weekly.
7. Add mulch around the base to retain moisture and suppress weeds.

“To me, this just seems like the best way to keep in touch. The best way to keep someone in your life.”

Jay Junker, who planted his father as a white oak sapling, from the article, “Turn Your Dead Grandma Into a Tree With This Smart Planter”

Plant a Tree Dedicated to Your Loved One

While planting a tree with your loved one’s remains can be costly (upwards of $200), a cheaper option is to plant a tree in their name. In addition to being eco-friendly and affordable, this process also offers customization options. You can choose the type of tree you want to plant, the area you want to plant in (with many companies offering locations worldwide), and add personalization options like cards and tribute designs.

Plant a Memorial Garden

Take your idea of planting a tree one step further with a memorial garden. Incorporate plant life that your loved one liked and add features to honor them, like engraved rocks and memorial benches. Your garden can also double as an event space for celebrations of life or serve as a destination for quiet reflection when you want to feel close to your loved one.

Alkaline Hydrolysis

Also known as ‘water cremation’, alkaline hydrolysis uses a 95% water-5% alkali solution, along with heat and pressure, to accelerate natural decomposition. The cost is typically a bit higher than that of flame cremation, ranging from $1,500 to $4,000. The process also takes longer and produces about twice as much remains.

However, it ranks highly on the eco-friendliness scale, using about 90% less energy than cremation.

Green Burial

While cremation or alkaline hydrolysis are the most eco-friendly funeral methods, some are not comfortable with the idea of not maintaining the body, whether for religious purposes or comfort. If you fit into this category but want to be eco-friendly in death, a green burial may be the best option. Here’s what it entails:

• No embalming: The body is naturally preserved via refrigeration or dry ice
• The coffin is made of biodegradable materials like wood or cardboard
• Shallow graves, 3.5 feet, are dug to support natural decomposition
• Natural Cemetery Settings: Bodies are typically buried on conservation lands protected from development

Celebration of Life Ideas After Eco-Friendly Cremation

This chart helps California families review post-cremation options by highlighting the environmental benefits.

Opal Can Assist with Your Eco-Friendly Cremation

Opal offers eco-friendly direct cremation in Los Angeles and Orange County and supports you through your grieving process. We provide transparent services with no hidden fees. Our prices truly are all-inclusive; the price we quote is the price you pay.

And if you are looking for creative ways to celebrate your loved one’s life, we can help you in that capacity as well. We partner with companies offering sea scatterings, ash diamonds, parting stones, cremation jewelry, fireworks celebrations, and more. Contact Opal to find out what makes us the best cremation company in Southern California.

FAQS

Are cremation ashes themselves biodegradable?

Cremation ashes don’t decompose naturally, but they do gradually integrate with soil or water. However, they are high in salt and have a high pH that can stress plants. That’s why many ‘green urns’ include soil amendments or instruct you to mix ashes with soil or compost.

How long does it take a biodegradable urn to break down?

It varies depending on the material, the soil type, moisture, temperature, and burial depth. However, in typical conditions, paper or fiber urns will decompose in a few months to a few years, while sand, salt, and water urns break down in minutes or hours once submerged.

Is eco-friendly cremation more expensive than traditional options?

Direct cremation with a biodegradable urn is typically less expensive than traditional cremation. If you order specialty urns, it can increase costs, but it will still be less expensive than a typical burial.

Can I still have a memorial service if I choose eco-friendly cremation and a biodegradable urn?

Absolutely. You may have a service before cremation or plan a celebration of life afterward.

How do I choose the right biodegradable urn?

Choose the right biodegradable urn based on:

• Intended use, such as soil burial, tree planting, scattering, or water burial
• Aesthetic and symbolic value: Choose a shape, color, or add personalization to customize it to your loved one’s personality and taste
• Size can be a factor, especially when storing adult or pet cremains or partial cremation keepsakes.
• Location rules may dictate the type of urn you choose. For example, some burial grounds may require certain approved materials. A water burial requires a water-soluble urn.

Additional Resources

• Opal Urn Catalog
• Opal Bio Urns
• What is Aquamation?
• How to Plan a Memorial Garden
• Burial vs. Cremation in Los Angeles: Costs & Options