Toxic chemicals, metal caskets and concrete vaults, traditional tools of the burial trade, are giving way to options for going green even in death.

The Parks and Wildlife Department in Texas plans to become the first government agency in the US to let families lay cremated remains in protected forests for a fee to help the state buy more land for conservation.

“Texas will cater to people concerned about environmental impacts of the death-care industry,” Ted Hollingsworth, the agency’s director of land conservation, said.

“If tens of thousands of people want to take advantage of this opportunity annually, it could easily double the rate at which were adding lands to state parks,” Hollingsworth said.

The $12 billion-a-year US funeral industry will need a makeover to meet new demand for back-to-earth burials and low- energy, low-emission cremations. Customers are now curious about products from biodegradable embalming fluid to caskets made of recycled cardboard, said Joe Sehee, executive director of the Green Burial Council of Santa Fe, New Mexico, a promoter of green-funeral standards.

“A year ago we had a dozen providers in our network,” Sehee said. “We have more than 300 now. What’s changed in a year is people see this as an opportunity.”

Sehee expects to have advised cemetery and funeral associations on eco-burials in more than half of the 50 U.S. states by year-end.

“Green burials represent a small but growing portion of the funeral industry,” said Jessica Koth, spokeswoman for the National Funeral Directors Association. “In a 2007 survey by AARP, the Washington-based advocacy group for people 50 and older, 21 per cent said they were interested in green burials. That number jumped to 43 per cent in a 2008 survey,” Sehee said.

“Green burials aim to return the body to the earth quickly, leaving little impact on the environment,” said Mary Woodsen, head of the board of trustees at Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve, in Newfield, New York. Preparations may include a cotton shroud to wrap the body and a casket-free burial.

Champion Company of Springfield, Ohio, will introduce a non-toxic biodegradable embalming fluid this month that provides reasonable temporary preservation, said James Bedino, head of research and development. The product, Enigma, challenges the industry’s use of toxic formaldehyde, steel caskets and concrete vaults, all meant to prevent decay.

“There are millions of tons of concrete buried in cemeteries across the US,” Bedino said. “Is that really necessary or is it kind of a contrived situation?” Champion sells products to a third of the 22,000 U.S. funeral homes.

“Cremation, already seen as a more environmental option than a traditional burial, is getting even greener,” said Paul Rahill, president of the cremation division of Matthews International, a casket supplier. Pittsburgh-based Matthews this summer will introduce its newest model of a recycled cardboard casket.

“The product avoids the use of virgin hardwood, weighs half as much as a wood casket and costs 75 per cent less. Cremations in the US, which account for 37 per cent of burials, are rising by 1 per cent a year,” Rahill said.

“Their choices have been pretty limited in the past,” Rahill said in an interview. “I can do a cherry paper veneer that looks almost like a cherry hardwood casket.”

Matthews has also developed computer-controlled heat sensors that make cremation furnaces up to 40 per cent more energy-efficient. The company later this year plans to install the first bio-cremation system in the US that will use hot water, pressure and an alkali chemical instead of combustion.

People can also improve the ocean in death. For $2,699 to $3,999, Fort Lauderdale-based Neptune Memorial Reef places cremated remains in columns, lintels and sculptures in a man- made reef about three miles off Key Biscayne near Miami. Prices depend on whether ashes are placed in premium or standard locations 40 feet below the surface.

The reef, built to withstand a Category Five hurricane, may someday hold the remains of 120,000 people, reducing land used for burial plots while promoting coral growth and marine life, according to Stephen Ziadie, chief operating officer.

“One of our biggest markets is what we call mantle people,” Ziadie said in an interview. “Cremated remains that are sitting on the mantle with loved ones. They may be there for years. The family may be looking for closure.”

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