Dissolved in Water or Turned Into Compost? Analyzing the Most Popular Alternative Funeral Types in the U.S.

Research shows Americans are willing to change their everyday lives to become greener — but what about their deaths?

The two traditional funeral types, casketed burial and cremation, leave a significant carbon footprint. A casketed burial releases approximately 800,000 gallons of toxic embalming chemicals into the ground every year, with caskets requiring several million tons of hardwood. Meanwhile, cremations emit around 360,000 metric tons of CO2 annually and toxic gasses such as mercury into the atmosphere.

So, what are the main alternative types of funerals? And how has interest in these methods changed in the last five years? With Halloween and All Saints’ Day approaching, we decided to investigate.

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Methodology

We identified six main unconventional practices through U.S. insurer Choice Mutual’s 2024 survey based on a limited panel of respondents:

  • Green or natural burial
  • Alkaline hydrolysis or aquamation
  • Human composting or natural organic reduction
  • Mushroom suit
  • Memorial reef
  • Tree pod burial

We then conducted a Google Trends analysis to look at the popularity of each funeral practice in the United States nationally and state-by-state over the last five years (we conducted the research on October 15, 2024).

We compared four search terms, combining related queries to pool as many data points as possible:

  • “green burial” + “natural burial”
  • “alkaline hydrolysis” + “aquamation”
  • “human composting” + “natural organic reduction”
  • “mushroom suit” + “memorial reef” + “tree burial”

We then looked at each method individually at the state level.

Results for mushroom suits, memorial reefs, and tree burials were grouped together as a category due to limited data for each stand-alone method. Not enough data could be gathered for space burial, an additional funeral practice identified by Choice Mutual, so it was excluded.
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Alternative funeral types ranked by popularity

Nationally, the U.S. states that expressed the highest interest in alternative funerals are Vermont, Maine, Oregon, Colorado, and the District of Columbia. Those states are generally considered among the greenest in the country.

Green burials are the most popular alternative funeral practice. Search interest for this type of burial was 20% higher than for aquamation and over twice as high as human composting.

Coming in second place, alkaline hydrolysis or aquamation is also a popular choice being nearly twice as searched as human composting.

In the third position, Americans favor human composting, which is nearly 40% more popular than the last three funeral types.

Search queries relating to mushroom suits, memorial reefs, and tree burials proved three times less popular than for green or natural burials.

Meanwhile, the actual number of alternative funerals is difficult to determine. A green burial counts as a burial and a water cremation as a cremation in most statistics. In addition, only green burials are legal in all U.S. states.

Green burials

Different burial method popularity map

Green or natural burial is the most popular alternative funeral type in 40 states (78% of all U.S.). They are particularly popular in the North East, with a relatively higher volume of search queries in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin.

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A green or natural burial typically refers to the removal of embalming chemicals from the burial process and the use of biodegradable containers. Both the body and the container naturally decompose in the following weeks — feeding the surrounding soil and flora.

The Green Burial Council estimates that green burials emit 10 times less CO2 than traditional vault burials. At around $2,000, a green burial is also much cheaper than a traditional burial (on average $7,000–8,000) thanks to the removal of chemicals and hardwood caskets and vaults. It also involves limited maintenance costs.

Alkaline hydrolysis (aquamation)

Alkaline hydrolysis is the most popular body disposal method in 11 states (22% of all U.S.). The top three states for this search query are located in the South East and Central parts of the U.S.: Alabama, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.

Aquamation or alkaline hydrolysis refers to a process in which the body is immersed in a heated alkaline water solution at high pressure. The resulting ashes are given to the family to be kept or scattered.

Aquamation is more environmentally friendly than its counterpart — a traditional cremation. The aquamation process consumes 90% less energy and only has a tenth of the carbon footprint without releasing any mercury. However, it involves high water usage and is a bit more costly at $3,000.

Human composting

Human composting generates higher interest in the states of Washington, Wyoming, and Oregon — making it the most geographically diverse search query. However, it falls short of being the most popular alternative funeral type in any U.S. state.

Human composting, also known as natural organic reduction, refers to the practice of transforming human remains into compost. The body is placed into a container with organic materials and decomposes in the following weeks. The compost can then be spread onto the soil to nourish the plants above it.

Unlike a green burial, human composting doesn’t involve any land use or require as much water as an aquamation. It also has a minimal carbon footprint, making it a solid contender for the most environmentally friendly type of alternative funerals. However, human composting is the most expensive practice with estimated costs of up to $7,000.

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Other alternative burial methods

The other three methods are all niche options and generally gather little interest. Hardly any companies offer mushroom suits and memorial reefs, while tree pod burials are still in the experimental stage.

Those types of funerals are relatively more popular in Florida — where one of the largest memorial reefs in the world is located, which may explain the results — Delaware, and Kentucky.

A mushroom suit is a garment composed of mushroom spores that break down and ‘digest’ the body. This method intends to decrease the amount of toxic chemicals released by decomposing human tissue into the soil.

Memorial reefs refer to the creation of artificial reefs through ashes placed in concrete containers. They aim to boost marine biodiversity.

Tree burials involve placing human remains, either cremated ashes or a whole body, into a pod beneath a tree to help nourish it. Body-containing pods are still being conceptualized, and cremation pods rely on traditional cremation.


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