Shifting trends in the “death care” industry

In today's world everything is commercialized, even burials for that matter. The burial industry is a booming industry today, with a "business" of $11 billion-a-year in US alone. The latest trend in the burial industry is that of green burials. I have discussed briefly about some of the burial practices prevalent today.

Current practice

current

Though the awareness of green burials is fast spreading, but still it is in its initial stages of development. Majority of the population still practices the traditional form of funerals where every year millions of tons of valuable resources in the form of wood and metal coffins and concrete grave liners are buried, along with embalmed bodies containing countless gallons of toxic formaldehyde. Funerals cost you an average of around $7,000 with approximately another $3,000 for a plot and cemetery-related costs.

Here are some of the alternatives that can be used instead of the above:

Cremation

cremation

More than one-third of clients in the United States prefer cremation and the number is growing. In England, more than two-thirds prefer cremation to other practices. The cost of cremation is significantly less than that of funerals at funeral homes.

However, cremation has its share of evils. It discharges the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and other airborne pollutants, including a few nasty ones like mercury vapor from teeth fillings, which is not kind to the environment either.

Home burials

As the name suggests, this is when you bury your loved one at your home itself. It really helps in the grieving process. Families engage in the process, are with the body of their loved ones, and that imposes reality. In a funeral home, grief has to be fit into a particular period, until the funeral ceremony is over. At home, when waves of grief come, they can be dealt with at any time.

However, the idea of having a dead body right in your home freaks out some people.

Green burials

green burial

This is the latest "trend" in the burial industry these days. More people are turning to natural burials. They are much simpler than traditional ceremonies and cost less. The average cost is somewhere around $1500. Rather than embalming the bodies, they are preserved with refrigeration or dry ice; replace metal or cotton shrouds and biodegradable coffins replace ornate wooden caskets; and the body is placed in a shallow grave instead of deep inside a concrete vault. The burials take place not in a traditional cemetery, but in a natural area - protected and preserved for posterity as a woodland or nature reserve.

Promessa Organic

organic burial

This is yet another high-tech solution, from a company in Sweden called Promessa Organic. It could eventually replace all current burial and cremation methods by deep-freezing the body and submerging it in liquid nitrogen. Vibration then turns the brittle remains into a fine powder that is dehydrated and any metal residue is removed. The remains can then be kept or disposed of like ashes.

Though I have mentioned the prices above, I know that the decision of burials is not much influenced by monetary considerations. The choice is influenced rather by emotions. The shifting trend in the funeral industry has more to do with environmental considerations, rather than the monitory ones.

Via: Miller-McCune