Baby boomers and seniors planning for a natural, environmentally neutral burial have a multitude of options from which to choose.

There are nearly 50 certified green cemeteries in North America, according to the Green Burial Council, a nonprofit advocacy group. Many patients and families seek burials with minimal ecological impact to help curb the spread of ground pollutants and encourage organic decomposition. Others favor natural, or green, burials for religious or cultural reasons.

“It just seems to be the right thing to do for some people,” said Kevin Corrado, coordinator of Nature Path Sanctuary in Verona, Wis. “Natural burials are consistent with Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. The concept of ‘from dust to dust.’”

In 2011, Corrado, a retired clinical social worker, helped launch the 25-acre sanctuary, one of the first green cemeteries in Wisconsin. Embalmed bodies and non-biodegradable vaults or containers are prohibited.

“Putting concrete vaults into the ground or formaldehyde, a carcinogen, in embalming fluid doesn’t make sense,” he added. “People are questioning the practices of what has become conventional in the U.S. Embalming isn’t common elsewhere. We really are a traditional cemetery.”

Corrado said 26 bodies and seven cremains have been placed during the last three years. Some families opt to help bury or prepare their loved ones.

“They wrap the body in a shroud or transport it to the cemetery themselves,” he offered. “It can be very meaningful for some, and many have pre-planned for this type of burial while receiving hospice care.”

Most graves in green cemeteries are marked with a simple wooden monument or flat stone to help preserve the landscape. Others prohibit flowers not indigenous to the area.

Stephen Dawson, third generation owner of Sax-Tiedemann Funeral Home & Crematorium in Franklin Park, Ill., said he believes embalming fluid is unnecessary for most bodies set to be buried within three or four days of death.

“We have refrigeration, so if a person passes away and is buried during the weekend, it’s no problem,” Dawson said. Embalming fluid contains water and lanolin to keep tissues soft and slow down decomposition for bodies being transported across state lines or buried weeks after death.

“I think green burials are a great thing, because it brings us back to nature and families being able to say goodbye,” he added. “Most green cemeteries look like forest preserves, so families visit them and experience it.”

He recommends that patients and families plan for a green burial before death because of the multitude of choices; a body can be set in a wicker or wooden casket or placed in the ground naked. Cremation is environmentally-friendly if heated with natural gas and the ashes placed in a biodegradable urn.

Another option is alkaline hydrolysis: a body placed in pressurized boiling alkali water for four to 12 hours. “The alkali gets rid of all the soft tissue and just leaves the brittle bone behind,” Dawson said. “The bone is then put into a processor and broken down like cremains. The waste water can be used to fertilize fields.”