Two Tips for Planning an Eco-Friendly Funeral
If the person whose funeral you need to plan was passionate about environmental causes, then the best way to honour their memory would be to make their funeral as eco-friendly as you can. Here are some ideas that could help you to do this.
Have them buried in a coffin made from recycled wood
Most coffins are made from wood. One way that you could give your loved one an eco-friendly funeral would be to ensure that their coffin is made from recycled wood that has been salvaged from, for example, demolished properties. This will ensure that this old, unwanted timber is utilised instead of being left to sit in a landfill.
You can do this by buying a coffin made of recycled wood from the funeral home (if they stock coffins like this). Alternatively, if the funeral does not provide this option and the deceased had a large piece of wooden furniture that they loved or that had some special meaning for them, you could get a carpenter to use this wood to make a one-of-a-kind coffin. It should be noted that this would probably only be a viable option if the carpenter you hired did not have any other projects in the works, as they would need to devote all of their time to this task in order to have the coffin made in time for the funeral service.
Adorn the funeral home with eco-friendly decor for the funeral service
Most people like to display some decorative objects in the funeral homes where they host their loved ones' funeral services. If you would like to do this, it's worth coming up with some 'green' decor options that either have virtually no carbon footprint or that actively benefit the environment.
For example, you could order the funeral wreath and other flowers from a florist that sources their flowers from ethical flower farmers who grow their flower crops in a sustainable manner, or you could decorate the funeral home with potted plants that you could then give away to the guests after the service is over. The former should not cause any major environmental damage, whilst the latter could actually improve the environment (provided the plants are cared for and kept alive by the recipients for quite a while), as plants absorb climate change–causing CO2.
Additionally, you could ask the owner of the funeral home if they have reusable decor that they store on their premises for their eco-conscious clients; using the decor that they already have on hand and returning it when the funeral service has finished will mean that these decorative objects do not have to be sent to a landfill after the funeral and will mean that you won't have to buy single-use decor items yourself. Reach out to local funeral homes to find out what your options are.