‘Mum kept saying she wanted to go up in a firework': Why green burials are going mainstream

'I want to become a pearl when I die - or a reef,' said Madeleine Sutcliffe. Aged 80 and suffering from lung cancer, Sutcliffe was given six months to live in January.
Adam, Sutcliffe's son, is enthusiastic. 'I don't think a pearl is possible but if mum's ashes are made into an artificial reef, I'll be able to dive to it,' he said. 'Given how I feel when I dive - serene, calm and meditative - a reef is the perfect environment to remember mum.'
Until recently, wanting an environmental funeral was a radical concept. Now, it's increasingly mainstream: a recent report by the National Funeral Directors Association found over 60% of families said they would be interested in investigating green funeral options - up from 56% in 2021.
Even local councils are responding: the Association for Public Service Excellence recently found that over 61% of councils across the UK already provide natural or woodland burial grounds, or plan to do so in the near future - up from 44% in 2018.
There are now an almost bewildering number of options available for those who want their death celebrated in a sustainable way.
Some are still under development, such as decomposers that turn the body into fertile soil, fungi bodysuits that decompose the body, and egg-shaped pods in which corpses are curled and a tree planted on top.
Other methods are already available in other countries: resomation - a chemical process of alkaline hydrolysis, and human composting - which involves keeping a body in a controlled environment so that remains are broken down quicker than a burial.
Other complex options, such as aquamation - which yields the same results as cremation by using pressurised water, is growing in popularity, as are biodegradable urns and tree pod burials - placing a deceased person's ashes into a biodegradable pod, buried under a tree.
The world's first mushroom coffin - a 'living coffin' that helps to speed up the body's decomposition and enrich the surrounding earth - is as close as a funeral home in south London.
Traditional funerals are losing popularity for a range of reasons, among them, the growing awareness of the damage they do.
According to the Green Burial Council, traditional burials in the United States use an estimated 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid, 20 million board feet of hardwood (including rainforest wood), 17,000 tons of copper and bronze, and 1.6 million tons of concrete each year - all of which use vast amounts of energy to source, manufacture, process and transport. Over time, these toxins leach into the surrounding soil.
Even when filtered, cremations are also damaging; their fumes emitting carbon dioxide and toxic, mercury-laden gasses.
Then there's the price: traditional funerals can cost upwards of £5,000. Green burials can cost as little as £700.
The fall in religiosity is also a factor: while fewer than half Britons now believe in god, belief among those aged over 80 - like Sutcliffe - has fallen from 82% in 1981 to 59% in 2021.
When people are freed to make their own funeral decisions, results are often exuberantly celebratory.
'My mum had cancer for five years and kept saying that she wanted to go up in a firework,' said Caroline Murphy, of her mother, Jeanne. 'I never even knew it was a thing but after she died, we discovered that it was.'
Jeanne's ashes were divided into five fireworks - four of which have already been exploded in places significant to the family.
Jeanne's 14 year old granddaughter, Gabriella, loved it. 'My grandmother always said she was going to watch over us and after seeing her explode in the night sky above us, I can believe that's true,' she said. 'Each time we let a firework off, it was really joyous and celebratory. It suited her character perfectly.'
But with choice, comes risk: adverts for two funeral providers were banned a few years ago after they misleadingly implied their MDF coffins were more eco-friendly than other options.
Then last year, the Green Burial Council had to review their own processes after removing certification from a company called Ovum Fungi.
'Their pods initially met our certification criteria but their messaging made additional claims that were not consistent with our mission,' said Christopher Doggett. Ovum Fungi have not responded to calls from the Guardian.
Rosie Inman-Cook from The Natural Death Centre is conflicted by the rise in natural burial grounds in the UK: 'There are now over 300 in the country but only 70 that we certify,' she said.
'There are real cowboys out there,' she warned. 'We get far too many calls from families whose loved ones have been buried in the wrong grave, or their coffins improperly placed in the ground, or a space in the family plot filled with the coffin of a stranger.'
The Law Commission is currently consulting on alternatives to established funerary methods. But in the absence of regulation, experts are concerned that families are being exploited.
'There is a lot of opportunity here for greenwashing by those, some perhaps with the best of intentions, who haven't done the right research,' said Oliver Towner, a member of the SAIF National Executive, the group supporting independent funeral directors.
Towner points to the woven coffins that many funeral directors market as being a sustainable alternative to a wooden coffin. 'A lot of them are made in China and shipped to the UK. Are they still a more sustainable product than other options? The data at the moment just doesn't exist.'
Towner also points out how important it is to take wider facts into account when judging what option is most sustainable. 'The carbon footprint of a cremation will obviously be more than a natural burial, but you're more likely to live closer to a crematorium than a natural burial ground and you're likely to scatter the ashes closer to home,' he said.
Towner warns, however, that any interrogation of environmental claims has to cast its net even more widely. 'When looking at aquamation, for example, we need to factor in the the Environmental Agency's recent warning that London could run out of water in the next 25 years,' he said. 'If we start to rely on water cremation, what happens if London runs out of water in London?'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Independent

32 minutes ago

• The Independent

Huge medieval discovery made by accident during sinkhole repairs

Remnants of what is believed to be one of the largest medieval hospitals in the north of England have been found during repairs to a sinkhole in York. Emergency work to repair the road outside York's Theatre Royal ground to a halt earlier this month, after remains of a 12th to 13th century hospital were found beneath the surface. Archaeology teams were called in to begin investigation works on St Leonard's Place, uncovering what is believed to be St Leonard's Hospital. Founded soon after the Norman Conquest, St Leonard's Hospital replaced the earlier St Peters hospital, which was founded by King Aethelstan and severely damaged in a fire around 1100 AD. Stretching from what is now York's Museum Gardens to the Theatre Royal, it cared for the unwell, elderly and condemned. As well as caring for the sick, it fed the poor and provided meals for the prisoners in York Castle. However, it was largely destroyed during the Reformation - leaving York without a hospital from the time of Henry VIII to 1740. The remains were found inside a void that had opened up outside the 18th century Theatre Royal earlier this month. Councillor Kate Ravilious, Executive Member for Transport said: 'One of the consequences of living in a beautiful historic city like York is that when something like this happens, when we have a sinkhole, there often are some exciting archaeological remains to be looked at. Which is exactly what has happened here.' After the Reformation the area was used as the Royal Mint. By the 1800s a warren of residencies, yards and stables stood there. It was then demolished to make way from the new Georgian streetscape in 1836, as it became one of the most fashionable parts of the city at the time, with a new road built over it. Liam Dennis, York City Council's Ancient Monument's Manager said: 'As with any work in the middle of the city centre, as its an area of archaeological importance, archaeologists are on hand to record and preserve any remains we come across. 'Here we think we've found the remains of what was the North's largest monastic hospital. If we were here in the 12th of 13th century we'd be on the outskirts of the site which used to spread from Museum Gardens, where the last of the remains can be seen today to the back of the Theatre Royal. 'What we think we've found are the remains of those demolished buildings, which the Georgians have used to be the base for their new boulevard, which would have linked the outskirts of the city to its very heart - past the fashionable Assembly Rooms, Red House and the Guildhall in the city centre.'

The Independent

42 minutes ago

• The Independent

BBC newsreader Martine Croxall changes ‘pregnant people' to ‘women' during live broadcast

A BBC News presenter has gone viral after replacing the term 'pregnant people' to 'women' while reading the autocue during a live broadcast. Martine Croxall was reporting on research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that warned of nearly 600 expected heat-related deaths on Saturday (21 June). Reading from the autocue, the presenter said: 'Malcolm Mistry, who was involved in the research, said the aged, pregnant people - women - and those with pre-existing health conditions need to take precautions." Ms Croxall address the broadcast on X on Sunday and said: "A huge thank you to everyone who has chosen to follow me today for whatever reason. It's been quite a ride.'

The Independent

43 minutes ago

• The Independent

Huge medieval hospital accidentally discovered during sinkhole repairs

Remnants of what is believed to be one of the largest medieval hospitals in the north of England have been found during repairs to a sinkhole in York. Emergency work to repair the road outside York's Theatre Royal ground to a halt earlier this month, after remains of a 12th to 13th century hospital were found beneath the surface. Archaeology teams were called in to begin investigation works on St Leonard's Place, uncovering what is believed to be St Leonard's Hospital. Founded soon after the Norman Conquest, St Leonard's Hospital replaced the earlier St Peters hospital, which was founded by King Aethelstan and severely damaged in a fire around 1100 AD. Stretching from what is now York's Museum Gardens to the Theatre Royal, it cared for the unwell, elderly and condemned. As well as caring for the sick, it fed the poor and provided meals for the prisoners in York Castle. However, it was largely destroyed during the Reformation - leaving York without a hospital from the time of Henry VIII to 1740. The remains were found inside a void that had opened up outside the 18th century Theatre Royal earlier this month. Councillor Kate Ravilious, Executive Member for Transport said: 'One of the consequences of living in a beautiful historic city like York is that when something like this happens, when we have a sinkhole, there often are some exciting archaeological remains to be looked at. Which is exactly what has happened here.' After the Reformation the area was used as the Royal Mint. By the 1800s a warren of residencies, yards and stables stood there. It was then demolished to make way from the new Georgian streetscape in 1836, as it became one of the most fashionable parts of the city at the time, with a new road built over it. Liam Dennis, York City Council's Ancient Monument's Manager said: 'As with any work in the middle of the city centre, as its an area of archaeological importance, archaeologists are on hand to record and preserve any remains we come across. 'Here we think we've found the remains of what was the North's largest monastic hospital. If we were here in the 12th of 13th century we'd be on the outskirts of the site which used to spread from Museum Gardens, where the last of the remains can be seen today to the back of the Theatre Royal. 'What we think we've found are the remains of those demolished buildings, which the Georgians have used to be the base for their new boulevard, which would have linked the outskirts of the city to its very heart - past the fashionable Assembly Rooms, Red House and the Guildhall in the city centre.'