About the Natural Burial Company

We Import, Market and Distribute Natural Burial Products - but above all, we network and educate...

We source and distribute biodegradable burial containers - caskets and urns and shrouds - suitable for natural burials. The products we choose are made by responsible companies who want to supply environmentally friendly options in the US. We do this because we want to see natural burial become commonplace in the USA and we're confident that many of the people who buy coffins want that, too.

Wooden caskets are the most commonly thought of natural burial container, and we have several. However, we like woven fiber right now because it's lightweight and inexpensive to ship, it's naturally durable but doesn't take a lot of packaging, it biodegrades rapidly, and it keeps the weaving and paper arts alive. We hope to see a lot of new weavers take up the work in the next couple of years, and we hope they'll contact us when they do.

We love finding new items that we think are great. We're really excited about some of our highlighted products this year - like the recycled paper Ecopod - or our Seagrass and Bamboo Coffins - or our handwoven willow - (read more about our natural burial products). We've got new products in the pipeline - an alternative to the old-style vault; finely carved Fair Trade urns from salvaged wood, or the inexpensive and very clever "Everybody Coffin (tm)", shippable, paintable, and very affordable!

We're glad to offer our items to cooperatives, church groups, and alternative funeral service providers as well as cemeteries, cremetoria and licensed funeral directors.  Contact us for more information if you have questions.

Changing Our Ways

(check out the online excerpt of the book, "Be a Tree, the Natural Burial Guide for Turning Yourself into a Forest" for more information on natural burial...)

The environmental impact of current funeral and cemetery practices is growing too clear to ignore. Everything we bury now that does not degrade thoroughly over time is there for the next generation to dig up and pay to restore tomorrow. The future costs of clean-up are rising everywhere. Savvy developers know that. So do citizens and cemetery owners. Green burial grounds are taking off in the UK and they''ll catch on in the USA - of that, we're sure.

Natural burial is not only beautiful (thanks to the forests and beautiful landscapes it creates) - it's practical, too. So is clean cremation, and - in our experience and contrary to popular belief - the USA is filled with practical people. Actually, most people around the world are practical, really, when you get right down to it - and when they're clear on the choices and the consequences of their actions, most people want to do the right thing. It's only a matter of time, and of providing sustainable options.

We can't bury plastic and stamped steel and chipboard and embalming fluid forever. The tide will turn, and natural burial will become one of the answers for a growing number of environmentally concerned people. As the  paradigm shift around a natural end of life happens, a variety of opportunities will open up for both service and livelihood. The Natural Burial Company is working to help that happen.

What the Natural Burial Company wants:  Wise Alternatives

As soon as enough people say they want a "natural burial" or a "clean cremation" forward thinking funeral directors and cemeteries will begin to transition to better practices, and the NBC wants to see them get there. We've started a list, and we grow it daily.

New types of services - like celebrants and home funeral guides - are coming into being. We want to see artisan casket makers, urn creators, weavers, shroudmakers, and a whole host of other crafters rise up to participate in an opportunity to turn a market around.

Natural Burial Product Standards - they're coming

We have standards. They're not formalized yet because we're still evolving - natural burial is a new field and most of the entrants are still learning what can be done, and what's most important to do first.  There's a lot to understand, and a lot to discuss before standards can be set in stone, but there are good guidelines out there, thanks to the thirty-year old organics and natural products movements, Fair Trade,  Co-Op America, and others.

The Natural Step Framework with its four principles creates a solid overall guideline that any business or individual can use to evaluate its potential sustainability in the larger scheme of things. Local Agenda 21 offers concrete steps that cities and governments can take to green their projects, and hundreds of groups and organizations around the world are currently suggesting ways that

The Green Burial Council is working on drafting guidance in North America, along with the Memorial Association of British Columbia, the Natural Burial Co-Op of Canada, and the Association for Woodland Burial Grounds in the UK.

In general, we seek out well-run businesses and artisans who consistantly produce quality products and services without harming the environment. We encourage family wage jobs and we're really proud of our Fair Trade Certified supplier with IFAT status from China.  Our bottom line, however, is having a variety of biodegradable and natural burial products made from a diversity of fibers and materials. We want to see hand arts kept alive. We'd like to see designs taught and transferred, with local making common in 5-10 years. We've got high hopes. We hope others do, too.

Making the (up)grade to Greener Funeral Pastures - a Call to Producers

If you make (or want to make) a suitable natural burial product but don't feel you'd qualify as a 'sustainable business', or if you doubt your business practices will pass muster, but you want them to, that's where we really shine. Give us a try. It's not that we're easy, but we can probably help you figure out what to change first, and then next, in order to green up your act.

For a first step to understanding what natural products buyers expect in the realm of green burial, check out some of the suppliers in Co-Op America's Green Pages. Some things to keep in mind are:

• Materials sources - renewable, repurposed, recycled, recyclable
• Biodegradable - your product components should be both non-synthetic and biodegradable
• Labor - you should meet or exceed fair labor standards
• Transport - items should ship flat (no airspace) whenever possible
• Production - minimize pollution and resource extraction
• Technique - artisan-scale to that preserves handarts

Right now

We do this so that we can make a living and do marketing on behalf of our favorite products, the ones we think are going to change a little bit of the world. This year, we got the license to distribute the Ecopod in the USA. Gaiam Real Goods Trading Company is retailing some of our line.

At the moment, we think the English make some of the best biodegradable caskets - they're tried and tested in UK woodland burial grounds, many for over a decade. They've been at it so long, they now have an inspiring range of weaves and fibers and so we're happy to say "The British Are Coming."  

 Contact the Natural Burial Company by e-mail