Best Burial & Cremation Alternatives: Companies + Products

A conventional funeral is not for everyone. If you envision an alternative ending (or find yourself coordinating for a loved one), perhaps you want a better feel for the scope of what’s available.  Or maybe you have a clear vision for your final disposition and want to compare options or products.

Jump ahead to these sections:

• What Are Burial Alternatives and Green Burials?
  
• What Are the Different Types of Burial and Cremation Alternatives?
  
• How Did We Compare Each Alternative Burial Product, Service, or Marketplace?
  
• Popular Burial Alternatives Compared

No matter where you are in the process, having good information will help ensure that your alternative arrangements meet your needs.

There is an increasing number of alternatives available—and wading through options can be overwhelming. Fortunately, we have gathered information from a range of providers and distilled key information into an organized comparison.

With this guide, you can approach your planning with the knowledge necessary for an informed decision. 

What Are Burial Alternatives and Green Burials? 

If a conventional burial (with an embalmed body buried in a hardwood or metal casket) isn’t in your plans, what else is available to you? Cremation is a very popular alternative, and often cremated remains (cremains) are then buried in a cemetery plot or placed in a “columbarium” niche at a cemetery. 

Other options for the disposition of cremated remains often include display or scattering, but nowadays, they can also be put in art (even tattoos!), jewelry, or fireworks. Flameless cremation also exists in some localities. Below we explore a range of products and services that allow cremains to become part of the forest, ocean, or even outer space.

Other providers included below offer products for green burials, such as biodegradable coffins and caskets, or even a unique technology such as mushroom burial suit or a process to become soil without ever being underground

Green burials involve an unembalmed body, placed in a biodegradable covering (like a shroud, coffin, etc.), buried in a way that allows for natural decomposition. Dedicated green cemeteries also exist in many places—for green burials as well as biodegradable urn burials. 

For more information and ideas, check out our article on burial alternatives for non-traditional people. 

Why do people choose non-traditional burials?

Some “non-traditional” options, such as green burial, are actually a return to past traditions: before the modern funeral industry, every burial was a “green” burial! Some folks dislike the aesthetic, commercial, or environmental aspects of conventional funerals, and prefer to choose something different.  Others choose alternatives to save resources (the Earth’s, or their own!). Alternative burials can often be less expensive and consume fewer nonrenewable resources. 

The right funeral option for you depends on your priorities, your values, and your budget. Your cultural and religious traditions may also play an important role. Regardless of the choice you make, researching and comparing products and services will make for a better-informed decision with a higher likelihood of meeting your expectations. 

What Are the Different Types of Burial and Cremation Alternatives?

This guide deals primarily with options for disposition—the final destination for the physical remains of the deceased.

A number of these options are products and services that can be utilized with all or part of the “ashes” (cremated remains) following cremation. Others are for an uncremated body. Below we’ll break down the categories of alternatives.

Alternative destinations for cremated remains

This includes “space burial,” “water burial,” and innovations such as seedling urns—and none involve burial in the sense of a body interred underground.

These options require cremation before their use. (Cremation providers—conventional or flameless—are not covered here because they generally serve small geographic areas—check local resources for the names of crematories.) 

Most of these options allow portioning of the cremains, so next-of-kin could even choose several at once (for example,  half scattered at sea, half placed in a seedling urn). One advantage of these is that there is generally no time limit for using them after a cremation: even cremains on your mantle from decades ago could be sent to space or buried in a biodegradable urn. Your loved ones could plan for a “water burial” after spending time with your ashes at home. 

Alternative full-body disposition options

Full body disposition at sea and natural organic reduction (explained further below) involve neither burial nor cremation. 

Another non-burial option is donating your body to science. These providers are often local medical schools or tissue banks, not included in this guide because they serve specific localities. Typically, cremation of remains follows after the research is completed.

How Did We Compare Each Alternative Burial Product, Service, or Marketplace? 

We compared these providers on the following dimensions:  

• Types of products offered: Each of the companies profiled offers a different set of products or services. We inventoried these with a brief explanation of what the purchase entails.
• Price for main product offering: Prices vary considerably, and it’s important to know the costs in advance.
• Can you pre-purchase or pre-plan?: Some funeral/burial purchases can be made in advance, and others cannot. We elaborate here.
• Environmental benefits: If an eco-friendly ending is part of your plan, you’ll want to know what ecological upside each option will entail. 
• Environmental costs (if any): Likewise, if green is your theme, you’ll want to consider the impact each option may have on the environment.
• Logistical constraints: These options may not be feasible in all situations, or may require special planning, which we explain here.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): Consider whether having a special reminder or takeaway is important to you or your loved ones.
• Any other notable features: Any additional considerations we found in our research are mentioned here.

Popular Burial Alternatives Compared

The options we compared fell into a few categories of similar services: water burial, space burial, seedling urns, green burial technologies, and green burial marketplaces. 

Water burial 

A water burial involves releasing the remains of a loved one over water. This could be in the form of cremated remains, either scattered or sunken—or in the form of whole-body disposal in which the deceased is submerged in deep ocean waters in a specialized casket or biodegradable shroud. 

Both kinds are regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), require a minimum distance from shore, and documentation of the location. Full body burial at sea requires an ocean depth of at least 600 feet.

Alternatively, an individual’s (or family’s) cremated remains can be mixed into concrete and cast into artificial reef formations. The resulting structures, called reef balls, are placed underwater to serve as a lasting habitat for fish and other sea life.  

Two companies providing these marine memorialization services are compared below:

Sea Services

• Types of products offered: Burial at Sea—cremated remains in urn placed on the ocean floor, Scattering Ashes at Sea—scattering of cremated remains on the sea's surface, Full Body Burials at Sea—performed with a weighted casket at specific sea depth, "Captain's service" for unattended burials. Plus, Sea Services sells many accessory items such as scattering capsules and urns.
• Price for main product offering: Prices start at $225 for unattended urn placement in New York, $450 for all other ports; memorial voyages for family/guests are custom priced (averaging $800-900 for a small group). Costs can range widely depending on port, season, and number of passengers. Personalized price quote required for Full Body Burial at Sea.
• Can you pre-pay or pre-plan?: Yes.
• Environmental benefits: Doesn't "consume" cemetery land.
• Environmental costs (if any): Boat emissions (typically diesel). Unknown (but likely minimal) impact of cremated remains in ocean and urns or other items on the sea floor.
• Logistical constraints: Full body burial at sea requires careful coordination to ensure access to required ocean depth within the needed timeframe, and specific preparation to ensure the body or coffin sinks quickly. In some states, a licensed funeral director is required.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): Certificate with date and location of "burial."
• Other special features: Prices listed do not include funeral home services or cremation. Website contains lots of information, but is not well-organized.

Sea Services, “America's leading maritime funeral provider,” operates in 12 coastal states and has a great deal of experience with marine memorialization.

Their unattended services are very affordable, though prices rise quickly once additional costs are added for passengers, etc., depending on location. If you are looking for dedicated funeral specialists (as opposed to freelancing boat-owners), their services seem like a good fit. 

Learn More About Sea Services

Eternal Reefs

• Types of products offered: Reef balls made with cremated remains incorporated into concrete in three size options: Mariner Eternal Reef, which is 4′ high by 5′ wide (large) 3800 – 4000 lbs, Nautilus Eternal Reef, which is 3′ high by 4′ wide (medium) 1200 -1500 lbs, and Aquarius Eternal Reef, which is 2′ high by 3′ wide (small) 650 – 800 lbs. they also offer Eternal Reef Direct option for when families are unable to be present.
• Price for main product offering: Eternal Reef Direct (unattended burial) starts at $2,995 and Eternal Reef (attended burials) starts at $3,995.
• Can you pre-purchase or pre-plan? Yes, pre-paying in full allows a customer to lock in the cost of the Eternal Reef at today’s cost. However, Eternal Reef cannot commit to placing the reef at any specific location until the time of need.
• Environmental benefits: Coral reef propagation, Marine habitat development, and restoration.
• Environmental costs (if any): Some modest carbon impact of concrete production and ball placement. Requires cremation, with its attendant environmental impacts. 
• Logistical constraints: Occasionally, weather prohibits placement and dedication of the reef balls on the same day.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): A GPS survey to record the specific longitude and latitude of the Eternal Reef, a bronze plaque with inscription (on reef ball), and two Memorial Certificates.
• Other special features: As a non-profit organization, contribution may be tax-deductible; Normal-sized house pets can be included in any of our individual memorials at no additional cost; The family can personalize the top of the reef with handprints, messages etched into the damp concrete and adding small mementos like military medals and religious symbols that are not harmful to the environment.

Eternal Reefs is an approved 501(c)3 charitable organization offering a unique memorialization option. For lovers of marine life, it’s hard to imagine a better final tribute than something of this sort.

The costs are much higher than for scattering at sea, but the reef ball’s lasting benefits as a memorial and an ecological sanctuary may warrant that price.

Learn More About Eternal Reefs

Space burial services

Even if you’re not a NASA astronaut, a piece of you can still make it into space. With space burial, a small amount of ash is encapsulated and rocketed into space, even to the moon or beyond.

Private space burial companies often piggyback the capsules on a pre-planned mission. Suborbital flights briefly fly ashes into space then return to Earth, where they can be returned to families.

Alternatively, capsules can be sent into orbit and burn “like a shooting star” upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere weeks later. Lunar memorials even offer capsule placement on the moon. Mission dates are often few and far between, so you may have to wait months or years for a space to open up to… space. 

Celestis

• Types of products offered: Earth Rise, a capsule of remains flown >100 km into space and then returned as keepsake, the Earth Orbit, where remains launched into orbit for months or more, then burning up upon reentry, the Luna Memorial, a capsule of cremated remains or DNA sample sent to moon permanently, and the Voyager Memorial, a capsule of cremated remains or DNA sample sent into deep space.
• Price for main product offering: Prices start at $2,495 and go up to $12,500.
• Can you pre-pay or pre-plan? Yes, and often flights must be scheduled months or years in advance.
• Environmental benefits: No real benefits, but, thankfully, the cremated remains are not scattered in space so as not to contribute to space debris.
• Environmental costs (if any): Limited marginal environmental impact because existing space missions are utilized and additional cargo weight is negligible; Unknown impact of objects or DNA in a space environment.
• Logistical constraints: Flights are infrequent and must be booked months or years ahead. 
• Memorial keepsake (if any): Invitation to launch (or webcast), video and certificate, and Earth Rise includes commemorative capsule.
• Other special features: Prices listed do not include the funeral, cremation, or disposition of the majority of remains. DNA sample option available regardless of choice for final disposition, so cremation isn't required.

Houston-based Celestis has been providing space burials since 1997—and offers a broader range of options than its competition.

With close ties to NASA, it has provided space burials for many well-known space enthusiasts and seasoned astronauts. If experience matters and price is no object, Celestis might be the right provider to take you to infinity and beyond.   

Learn More About Celestis

Elysium Space

• Types of products offered: Lunar Memorial, a capsule of cremated remains sent to moon permanently and the Shooting Star Memorial, where remains launched into orbit inside small satellite for months or more (trackable on app), then burning up upon reentry.
• Price for main product offering: Shooting Star Memorial is $2,490 and the Lunar Memorial is $9,950
• Can you pre-pay or pre-plan? Yes, and often flights must be scheduled months or years in advance.
• Environmental benefits: No real benefits, but thankfully the cremated remains are not scattered in space so as not to contribute to space debris.
• Environmental costs (if any): Limited marginal environmental impact because existing space missions are utilized and additional cargo weight is negligible. Unknown impact of objects or DNA in space environment.
• Logistical constraints: Flights are infrequent and must be booked months or years ahead.  
• Memorial keepsake (if any): Invitation to launch (or webcast) and a tracking app.
• Other special features: Also can engrave a message of your choice, up to 80 characters. Prices listed do not include the funeral, cremation, or disposition of the majority of remains.

San Francisco-based Elysium Space is a relative newcomer but offers several similar services at a lower price point than Celestis (as well as a tracking app for the Shooting Star Memorial).

Because of the infrequency of missions, your decision may be driven more by timing than cost, but Elysium Space may offer more bang for the buck for your rocket journey. 

Learn More About Elysium Space

Green burial products

Green burial is a “back to nature” approach, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t products available to supplement the process’s basic simplicity. 

Beautiful handcrafted caskets from natural materials, for example, can be shipped directly to you or your funeral home. Several companies have created biodegradable urns that, when combined with specific soil mixtures to lower the pH and dilute sodium, use cremains to help grow a tree. 

There are a range of greener funeral options available, and new creative solutions have emerged over time. The companies below offer products or services that enable or enhance the natural return of the body (or its cremated remains) to the earth. 

Coeio

• Types of products offered: Infinity Burial Suit, a biodegradable suit made of fabric containing mycelia of mushrooms and other microorganisms that aid in decomposition, work to neutralize toxins found in the body and transfer nutrients to plant life.
  Infinity Shroud: Same fabric, but in a shroud for wrapping the body prior to burial
  Casket Liner: Same fabric, in a liner form for use with a casket.
• Price for main product offering: Infinity Burial Suit is $1,500, Infinity Burial Shroud is $1,500, and the Infinity casket liner is $750.
• Can you pre-pay or pre-plan? Yes, the products can be purchased ahead of time and stored indefinitely as long as they are kept away from water and extreme heat.
  
• Environmental benefits: Mushroom spores help to speed decomposition and improve the soil quality. Products use patent-pending organic technology to aid decomposition, toxin remediation, and plant growth. "Reunites the body with the earth and the ongoing cycle of life." Replaces more environmentally-harmful products.
• Environmental costs (if any): Minimal production impacts; possibly some unknowns about introducing microorganisms into the environment. 
• Logistical constraints: Needs to be used in the context of a natural burial, ideally at a 4-foot depth. 
• Memorial keepsake (if any): None.
• Other special features: Product availability unknown at this time.

The Infinity Burial Suit offered by Coeio is the culmination of an artist’s vision (combined with several years of research and refinement of fungal mycelia) to produce a garment that could remediate bodily toxins after burial.

Now available in a shroud and casket liner, the innovative textile has embedded mushrooms that sprout underground as a body decomposes. Although the science is unclear on the actual remediation potential, the Infinity garments are a creative tribute to the hidden work of mushrooms beneath our feet and a beautiful way to seek an environmentally friendly return to the earth. 

Learn More About Coeio

Bios Urn

• Types of products offered: The Bios Urn is a biodegradable container for cremated remains with a compartment to plant a seed or seedling that will grow into a tree. Bios Incube Lite is a planter that holds the Bios urn and allows it to be used for an indoor plant. BIOS INCUBE has been designed with a soil sensor and automatic irrigator (not currently available).
• Price for main product offering: Bios Urn is $140 and Bios Incube Life is $295
• Can you pre-pay or pre-plan? Yes, the urn has no expiration date.
• Environmental benefits: Biodegradable and encourages the planting and hurting of a memorial tree.
• Environmental costs (if any): Requires cremation, with its attendant environmental impacts. Cremated remains aren't an optimal growth medium for plants.
• Logistical constraints: Seed germination can be tricky for amateurs, as it requires careful selection and care. Most cemeteries will not allow tree planting.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): The tree planted over the cremains becomes the memorial keepsake.
• Other special features:  INCUBE's irrigator (although not currently available) can water the tree for up to 20 days before you need to refill it and connects to your smartphone or table through an app. 

Bios is a Spanish company whose goal is to "convert cemeteries into forests." They offer a modern seedling urn, as well as an upgraded option with a sleek planter for indoor or outdoor use.

They have also developed technology to automatically water and wirelessly monitor the seedling. For those having trouble finding an appropriate place to plant their memorial tree, Bios Parks is an initiative by the company to purchase designated greenspaces for the planting of urn or trees. 

Learn More About Bios

The Living Urn

• Types of products offered: Eco Scattering Urns, a Bamboo urn with locking and pouring configurations, the Eco Burial Urn, a Bamboo urn that can be displayed indoors or buried to degrade naturally, the Eco Water™ Urn, which floats and disperses cremains from the bottom for a gentle water dispersion, The Living Urn, a planter much like the Bios Urn, although a seedling can be ordered along with the urn, and a PlantUrn, an artist-designed planters for a succulent with a reservoir for cremains.
• Price for main product offering: Eco Scattering Urn is $49, Eco Burial Urn is $69, Eco Water Urn is $129, Living Urn is $129 (plus tree cost), and PlantUrn is $295-$595
• Can you pre-pay or pre-plan? Yes, all products (other than the sapling) can be purchased in advance and stored until use.
• Environmental benefits: The urn and sheath are made from plant-derived materials using only water, heat, and pressure—no toxic glues. A tree or plant is grown and will provide benefits including carbon sequestration.
• Environmental costs (if any): Requires cremation, with its attendant environmental impacts. 
• Logistical constraints: Living Urn sapling requires selection and care. Most cemeteries will not allow tree planting.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): The bamboo shell can be used as a keepsake holder after the Living Urn is planted. The indoor urns are attractive keepsakes. The Living and Plant urns will grow a memorial tree or plant. 
• Other special features: Sapling (1-4 feet) is larger than most provided by competitors. Engraving is possible.

The Living Urn is a bamboo-sheathed biodegradable urn containing a proprietary soil mix for tree planting. Living Urn also makes attractive urns for growing indoor plants, scattering, and water burial, and they can customize your tree selection to your zip code from over 50 species options. 

They send a sapling that is 1-4 feet tall (as opposed to a seed or small seedling provided by its competitors (or you can pick one up at a local nursery), which can significantly improve your chances of successfully growing a mature tree.

Learn More About The Living Urn

Recompose

• Types of products offered: Recompose offers a new type of body disposition called natural organic reduction, which converts human remains into soil inside an aerated vessel. This service is packaged with those typically provided by funeral homes, such as transportation, viewing/ceremony, and filing of the death certificate. 
• Price for main product offering: The price for the bundle when Recompose|Seattle is anticipated to open in early 2021 is projected to be $5500
• Can you pre-purchase or pre-plan? Not yet, but Recompose plans to offer this option in the future.
• Environmental benefits: By converting human remains into soil, the process minimizes waste, avoids toxic exposure, and prevents the emissions of CO2 from cremation and from the manufacturing of caskets, headstones, and grave liners. Recompose estimates that a metric ton of CO2 will be saved each time organic reduction is chosen over cremation or conventional burial.
• Environmental costs (if any): Since it is likely to be available only in limited locations for some time, we might need to consider transport impacts for the deceased and/or attendees.
• Logistical constraints: No facilities yet in operation; only legal in Washington, a few other states (e.g., Colorado) may soon follow.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): The process generates about a cubic yard of soil, which loved ones can then take home or donate to environmental restoration.  
• Other special features: None.

Recompose is not just a company, it is the culmination of an ambitious research project to create an entirely new method of environmentally-beneficial disposition that is ideal for space-constrained cities. Its process of “natural organic reduction” has been legalized in Washington and several other states may follow shortly. Its Seattle facility is currently under construction and should be operational in 2021.

Unlike most of the other products and services reviewed here, what Recompose provides can entirely replace funeral home, crematory and/or cemetery expenses for those who live nearby, making the anticipated $5500 price tag lower than conventional burial and even many cremation packages (once transportation, viewing, and ceremonial aspects are factored in). 

Learn More About Recompose

Eternitrees

• Types of products offered: EterniTrees Urns come with a choice of seed from 17 tree options (which can be matched with your growing zone). 
• Price for main product offering: Urns for humans for all available tree types are $98. 
• Can you pre-purchase or pre-plan? Personal Choice urn can be selected and seed added at a later date.
• Environmental benefits: Claims they are "responsibly offsetting the carbon footprint that was created by the process of cremation."
• Environmental costs (if any): Requires cremation, with its attendant environmental impacts. 
• Logistical constraints: Seedling requires careful selection and care. Most cemeteries will not allow tree planting.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): The tree planted over the cremains becomes the memorial keepsake.
• Other special features: The average person’s cremated remains will fit into 7- 0 EterniTrees urns, but can be further divided, using smaller amounts. If the seed doesn’t grow or an animal destroys the seedling, the company will send you more seeds and growing medium, or an actual seedling if available, for free.

Eternitrees, based in Oregon, offers urns that come with a choice of seed from 17 tree options (which can be matched with your growing zone).

It uses a proprietary growing medium that helps release beneficial plant nutrients found in cremated ashes. They have a toll-free number and folks who can help you find the right tree.

Learn More About Eternitrees

Green burial product marketplaces

A number of websites have emerged as online marketplaces for environmentally-friendly deathcare products. Some, like Perfect Memorials, offer a range of conventional products with a subset being targeted toward “green” consumers.

Others, like the Natural Burial Company, arose out of the green burial movement and are still closely tied to that advocacy.  Passages International designs and produces many of their own products. Some marketplaces offer coffins and caskets, others mostly smaller items such as urns and accessories. 

Perfect Memorials

• Types of products offered: Biodegradable urns, scattering tubes, outdoor memorials, and gifts.
• Price for main product offering: Prices vary.
• Can you pre-pay or pre-plan? Yes.
• Environmental benefits: Depends on specific product.
• Environmental costs (if any): Production and transport costs for material goods.
• Logistical constraints: Depends on the specific product.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): Choose from many available.
• Other special features:  Large memorial supplier with a subset of (appx. 70) green urns and scattering tubes; limited supplier or sustainability information; live chat or call for support.

Perfect Memorials is a large marketplace (they also have an Amazon storefront) with hundreds of products and several dozen biodegradable containers for storing or dispersing ashes.

They aren’t focused on sustainable practices specifically, but they do earn high ranks for customer service and shipping speed. Many of their products can be custom engraved as well.

Learn More About Perfect Memorials

Passages International

• Types of products offered: Biodegradable caskets, urns (for burial or water), scattering tubes, miniature urns, keepsakes, and mementos.
• Price for main product offering: Prices vary.
• Can you pre-pay or pre-plan? Yes.
• Environmental benefits: Huge selection of natural and eco-friendly products; many products contain significant percentages of recycled materials. Tree seedling mailed or planted with purchase.
• Environmental costs (if any): Production and transport costs for material goods (likely lower than average due to specific attention to reducing these impacts.)
• Logistical constraints: Depends on the specific product.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): Choose from many available.
• Other special features: None.

Passages International is a family-owned company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico that has been around since 1999. They have a large, attractive catalog of natural burial products and biodegradable containers for burying or scattering cremated remains.

They are dedicated to environmental responsibility and have a responsive, customer-focused team. For the breadth of selection and attention to sustainability, this marketplace would be hard to beat.

Learn More About Passages International

The Natural Burial Company

• Types of products offered: Biodegradable caskets, urns, shrouds and shrouding board. Shrouding Board and the Caskit are exclusive products.
• Price for main product offering: Prices vary.
• Can you pre-pay or pre-plan?: Yes.
• Environmental benefits: Sustainability Profile for each product. Free Natural Funeral Planner; Many of their wicker coffin/urn artisans grow and/or harvest their own fiber.
• Environmental costs (if any): Production impacts are minimized; some transport impact.
• Logistical constraints: Depends on the specific product.
• Memorial keepsake (if any): Choose from many available.
• Other special features: Carefully selects its suppliers, offers a Natural End map full or cemetery operators and funeral directors who have signed the "Natural End Pledge," purchases support advocacy work to educate the public and funeral service professional on the importance of environmentally-friendly funeral options and sustainable cemetery management. 

The Natural Burial Company has been a pioneering force in the natural burial movement. They grew from a desire to offer the most ecologically-sensitive burial containers and have developed unique products to support green burial, such as a shrouding board and flat-pack coffin kit.

Their founder is a natural cemetery owner and has extensive experience studying the environmental opportunities presented by more sustainable cemetery management.

Learn More About The Natural Burial Company

Burial Alternatives Are No Longer an 'Underground' Movement

No matter your post-mortem wishes, options are available, and merchants are ready to meet your alternative funeral needs.

We hope this guide has empowered you with information and insight to choose providers who will deliver you the alternative ending you envision for yourself or a loved one.