Death Can Be Dirty. What's A Greenie To Do?

By Amanda Bower

Think being green is as simple as separating paper and plastic? Leading an environmentally aware life is one thing, but disposal afterward is quite another. Cemeteries take up land; traditional burials (which cost about $7,000) may use caskets that rust from the inside out; and spillage from toxic embalming chemicals, according to the Funeral Consumers Alliance, can be flushed into the general sewerage system. Three ways to rest in green peace:

--GREEN BURIAL Average cost: $3,000

This method is widely embraced (and cheaper) in Britain, where some 150 burial grounds offer plain wood coffins, cardboard boxes or a "lovely woollen shroud" in which to bury loved ones in a nature reserve. The U.S. has been slow to follow, but Memorial Ecosystems in South Carolina has buried 18 people on its 33-acre site since 1998 and has presold about 100 plots. Endangered wildflowers will be planted on the graves this fall.

--CREATIVE CREMATION Cost: $850 to $3,200, plus cremation (about $1,000)

Since late 1999, Georgia-based Eternal Reefs Inc. has mixed some 200 marine enthusiasts' ashes with environmentally safe concrete to create "reef balls." The use of fossil fuels during cremation is somewhat offset by what the balls give back: they are lowered into the ocean to help rehabilitate damaged reefs. Within a year, corals form.

--BODY DONATION Cost: Free, but some transport fees may apply

This is real recycling--the body of the deceased is used to teach the next generation. Medical schools have different rules for body donation (generally the deceased must be adult and free of contagious disease and major trauma, including autopsy). When cadaver research is concluded, usually after two years, the remains are cremated without charge and buried or returned to the family for disposal. --By Amanda Bower