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."

Rural Ky. funeral home owner says he was targeted for proposing crematory in 'black part of town'

Todd County (Wikipedia map)

A rural southwestern Kentucky county is in the midst of accusations of racial bias over the proposed site of a crematory. Todd County Funeral Home owner Shane Hessey went before the Elkton City Council on Monday accusing a councilman of using "his position to improperly 'draw a line in the sand between blacks and whites' when it came to the location of the crematory," Publisher Ryan Craig reports for the weekly Todd County Standard.

The councilman said he objected to Hessey's proposed site of a former jeans-washing facility because it was in a low-income area, Craig writes. The councilman said many local residents he had talked to—African Americans and Caucasians—said they were against using the site for the crematory.

But Hessey said he was accused of purposely targeting the area because of its large African American population, Craig reports. Hessey last week withdrew the proposal after going to a planning commission meeting mostly attended by African Americans who were against the crematory. Hessey said, "I never knew [the area near the jeans washing facility] was considered the black part of town."

Hessey went on to claim that "another business publicly said 'I am the n—— funeral home of Todd County'," Craig writes, making the epithet apparent but not explicit. "Hessey said he felt he had a good record on race relations with his business and the community, and he withdrew his plans for the crematory because of 'the people in the chairs' at last week's planning commission."

City Attorney Jeff Traughber said that even if the commission had passed the plan for the crematory, the city council would still need to approve an ordinance change allowing crematories, Craig reports. The Standard is subscription-only, but the pages with th story are posted here.