Growing numbers of Brits and others are choosing to go to their graves more greenly, in biodegradable cardboard caskets and woodland burials that use trees as grave markers. Enviros point out that traditional burials usually involve a non-reusable wooden casket and a materials-intensive headstone, while gobbling up prime land. Cremation isn’t a green option either; last year in Britain, more than 400,000 wooden caskets were burned, wasting trees and emitting carbon dioxide. David Suzuki, noted Canadian environmentalist, intends to be buried in cardboard, just as his parents were. “If people think cardboard is tacky, perhaps they could rent a fancy casket with a trap door. Then the casket could be used again and again,” he said.
