Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010
Week of September 15, 2003
Cemeteries bury toxic legacy
Ireland produces enviro-friendly caskets for $1,100
By SUZANNE ELSTON
Concern about environmental degradation is usually focused on the impact of the living, but a new Catholic cemetery in Markham, Ont., is raising fears about the damage that the dead can do to our ecosystem. Earlier this year, The Toronto Archdiocese was finally given approval to begin construction of Christ the King Cemetery in Markham.
Local area environmentalists had opposed the cemetery because of concerns that cemetery run-off from shallow aquifers and groundwater tables would empty into the Rouge River, and ultimately Lake Ontario, the source of drinking water for millions of Canadians and Americans.
According to the Council for Geoscience, 1997, Environmental Engineering and Marine Geoscience Division, "Research shows that poorly sited cemeteries pose a threat of groundwater pollution, at least equal in magnitude to that posed by conventional waste-disposal sites." The concern isn't about bodies being buried; it's about how those bodies are prepared for burial, and what they're buried in.
Canada and the U.S. are the only two nations that still practise the art of embalming, a process that involves filling the arteries and body cavities with approximately 3.5 gallons of formaldehyde. Christ the King Cemetery has the potential for 100,000 burial sites, thus placing the equivalent of 350,000 gallons or 1,325,000 litres of formaldehyde in the ground. Furthermore, 89 per cent of the coffins that these bodies are buried in will be made from chipboard covered with laminate or particle board chipped wood that is stuck together with more formaldehyde.
Comparatively, Canadians likely bury approximately 700,000 gallons. What's interesting is that the use of formaldehyde is largely cosmetic. It's used to slow down the decomposition process and improve the look of the deceased, allowing for the North American tradition of open casket funerals.
Fortunately, a new company in Ireland is doing its part to make burial a more natural process. The Ecopod is an environmentally friendly casket made from 100 per cent naturally hardened, recycled paper prepared with earth minerals. The Ecopod derives its name from its pod-like shape, symbolizing a seed being planted in the earth and thereby beginning the process of regeneration and new life.
The Ecopod is also considerably lighter than traditional coffins and is designed to be carried by friends and family members of varying heights. Perhaps one of the biggest selling features of the Ecopod is the price. The most expensive version, which is covered in gold leaf, sells for 750 pounds Sterling (or approximately $1,650 Cdn.). A silk-screened version is available for 500 pounds ($1,100 Cdn.). For those who want to soften their journey to eternity, feather linings are available for an additional 75 pounds ($165 Cdn.).
By comparison, the average cost of a standard casket falls somewhere between $2,000 and $3,000, with deluxe models costing $8,000 or more.
One funeral director I spoke with said that his company wasn't considering importing the Ecopods directly, but would consider buying them from a wholesale importer. Sounds like a unique business opportunity to me.
While cremation provides a ground-water friendly option to cemetery internment, most bodies are still embalmed, and the majority of families opt for standard caskets. (For those wishing an immediate cremation with no viewing, a solid cardboard box is available). The environmental trade-off is that it requires a tremendous amount of energy to properly cremate a body.
So while death, like taxes, is unavoidable, some careful planning and thoughtful discussion can help mitigate our final impact on the environment. That's a legacy worth considering.
Recommended websites:To find out more about the environmental impact of cemeteries, the Christ the King Cemetery in particular and the Rouge Valley system in general, visit www.blackhole.on.ca. For more information about the environmentally-friendly Ecopod coffin, go to www.eco-pod.com. The Natural Death Centre www.naturaldeath.org.uk is a charitable project launched in Britain in 1991. It aims to support those dying at home and to help people to arrange inexpensive, Do-It-Yourself and environmentally-friendly funerals. The New Natural Death Handbook is available online from this site. For information about green burials in Canada, the memorialsocietybc.org/ms-greenburials.htm website will be online by the end of September.
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