Short answer: an eco-friendly funeral skips embalming, uses a natural shroud or simple biodegradable box, fills the room with local or garden flowers instead of flown-in arrangements, keeps the ceremony homemade, and feeds people with a potluck instead of a caterer. In the US, the FTC's Funeral Rule backs you up: funeral providers must disclose that embalming is not required by law except in certain special cases. The caveat: cemeteries and some service types (like a public viewing) can have their own requirements. Ask before you buy. Examples here are California; not legal advice.
This is about planning the whole service. For the burial itself, read our green burial guide. For cremation options, see eco-friendly cremation.
The low-waste funeral checklist
1. Skip embalming
Under the federal Funeral Rule, a funeral provider can't claim embalming is legally required when it isn't, and can't say it's needed for direct cremation, immediate burial, or a closed-casket service without viewing when refrigeration is available (16 CFR 453.3). The same rule notes embalming "may be necessary" if you pick certain arrangements, such as a funeral with viewing. If you want a viewing without embalming, ask the provider what their policy is, and get it in writing.
California's Cemetery and Funeral Bureau puts it plainly: "The law does not require embalming." If you skip it, the funeral establishment must refrigerate the body if it's held more than 24 hours.
2. Choose a natural shroud or simple container
A cotton, linen, wool or silk shroud, or a plain wooden or wicker box. The Green Burial Council's product certification standard is a useful yardstick even if you're not burying: approved caskets, urns and shrouds must be made from plant-derived, natural, animal or unfired earthen materials, with finishes, adhesives and dyes that don't release toxic by-products in the ground.
You can buy it elsewhere. The Funeral Rule bars providers from making you buy one good or service as a condition of getting another, and from tacking on fees beyond those the rule allows (16 CFR 453.4). Funeral Consumers Alliance of California even suggests families can make the urn or casket themselves.
3. Ask the cemetery about vaults
This one surprises people. The FTC requires funeral providers to tell you that, in most areas, state or local law doesn't require a container around the casket in the grave, but that many cemeteries require one so the grave doesn't sink. If you want no vault, you need a cemetery that allows it. That's a burial question; the green burial guide covers it.
4. Use local, seasonal, or garden flowers
FCA of California suggests friends bring flowers from their gardens or reusable potted plants instead of ordered arrangements. Ask people to bring a stem from their own yard. Skip floral foam and plastic wrap. Give the potted plants away at the end. If you're in LA and want a florist, see our list of flower vendors in the Los Angeles area and ask for local, in-season stems.
5. Hold it somewhere that already exists
A living room, a backyard, a park, a church hall. FCA of California suggests holding services at home, church or a public space with family in charge. No new venue to decorate, fewer car trips.
6. Make the ritual by hand
A homemade ceremony is the lowest-waste part of the day and usually the most memorable. Ideas:
- Everyone writes a note and tucks it into the shroud or box.
- Friends decorate a plain casket or shroud together, something FCA lists among home vigil options.
- Pass a bowl of soil or petals. Each person adds a handful and says a word.
- Sing something. Badly is fine.
Our end-of-life rituals piece has more bedside ideas that also work at a service.
7. Keep transport simple
In California, families doing home death care can handle the body themselves; the Bureau's guide lists what's required: a death certificate, a disposition permit, a suitable container and arrangements with the cemetery or crematory (CFB consumer guide). Fewer vehicles, fewer miles. See caring for a body at home after death if you're keeping them home.
8. Feed people without the plastic
FCA of California's frugal funeral tips include letting friends and relatives provide refreshments rather than using a caterer. Ask for real plates. Borrow a coffee urn. Send leftovers home.
9. Go paper-light
Programs on recycled paper, or one printed poster and a QR code. An online memorial can hold photos and stories without printing anything.
What it costs
We're not going to make up a number. What we can say: under the FTC's rule, a provider's price list has to tell you, in these words, "You may choose only the items you desire" (16 CFR 453.4). Every item you skip is money and waste you don't spend; our guide to arranging a funeral or cremation without overpaying walks through it.
Sources
- 16 CFR 453.3, FTC Funeral Rule: misrepresentations
- 16 CFR 453.4, FTC Funeral Rule: required purchases
- California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau: Consumer Guide
- Green Burial Council: Burial Product Certification Standard
- Funeral Consumers Alliance of California: Frugal funerals
- Funeral Consumers Alliance: How to arrange a home funeral