Final resting choices include green burials, water cremation and human composting -- in addition to traditional options

The Forest Conservation Burial Ground in Ashland, Oregon, is a
green burial site. (Green Burial Council photo via Herald-Leader)

Ash and casket burials aren't the only final resting choices. Depending on state laws, water cremation, green burials and even human composting are options, reports Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Nationally, cremation has become more popular. The process "uses flame and heat to reduce a body to ash and bone fragments. The brittle bone fragments are then put in a machine to pulverize them into pieces, usually no bigger than an eighth of an inch," Estep writes. "The deceased person is placed in the cremator in a flammable container such as wood, wicker or rigid cardboard. The process of cremation typically takes two to two and a half hours. The average weight of the remains of a cremated adult is four to six pounds."

Other alternatives include green burials where the deceased is put "into the ground in a shroud or other biodegradable container — or no container — without being embalmed. Supporters see green burial as better for the environment," Estep reports. "Another method of disposition is called alkaline hydrolysis, or water cremation. As the name indicates, the deceased person is placed in a watertight container with water and alkaline chemicals that are heated. The process breaks down the body into a sterile solution that can be put down a drain, and the bones are pulverized as in flame cremation."

Natural organic reduction, or human composting, is legal in a few states. Estep explains, "In that process, a person’s body is put in a container with materials such as hay, straw and wood ships that help turn the body into soil, according to a document explaining the law in Oregon. The process takes about about four to six weeks, with additional time needed to dry the soil."

And finally, is it legal to be buried in your own backyard? It depends. Sidney Fogle, executive director of the Funeral Directors Association of Kentucky, told Estep, “People bury on private property all the time." Estep reports, ". . . there may be city or county ordinances that prevent it, but in the absence of those prohibitions, it is legal for people to be buried on their own property, Fogle said. . . . It would be best for a funeral home to handle the burial, however. One reason is that the state and other agencies, such as the Social Security Administration, are supposed to be notified of deaths, and funeral homes know how to complete that process."