You wouldn’t be caught dead polluting the Earth, so why damage the environment when you die?
Bill Mont, president of Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Sackville, says traditional burials contaminate the ground with nails, rust from the coffin and embalming fluids leaking into the dirt – and the pricey practice costs the Earth.
That’s why he’s introducing the eco-burial.
Standing in an overgrown area looking down on Sackville Drive, he jokes that green customers are “going to have a great view, and leave a good environmental footprint.”
By using a simple, nail-free coffin — or even no coffin at all — and skipping embalming, customers will green-up their deaths by reducing the environmental impact.
“They’d have to get in there pretty quick,” he notes, as without embalming the body would have to be buried by the next day. That practice is in line with religious requirements for Muslims and Jews.
The eco-area will be left a little wild, with trees and bushes incorporated into burial plots.
And as a basic traditional casket costs between $1,095 and $2,500, plus $1,500 for a marker as well as embalming fees, his box-and-burial package will save you money.
Green customers would pay about $1,500 for a plot, plus a $400 charge for “opening and closing” the grave, and whatever they want to spend on a marker.
Asked if he would take the green option himself, the busy 80-year-old said he’d consider it, noting he’d better make the decision soon though.
