The basics
What is green burial?
Green burial is a way of burying a body so it can break down naturally in the soil, without the materials and treatments used in a conventional burial.
Why people choose it
Reasons this choice resonates.
For many people, green burial isn’t simply about having a “greener funeral”. It’s about simplicity, natural decomposition and returning to the earth.
People are drawn to it for different reasons, and often for several at once:
- Letting the body return to the earth naturally, as part of the ordinary cycle of soil and growth.
- Not being embalmed.
- Using fewer manufactured materials — a biodegradable casket, a shroud, or a simple approved container — and no conventional grave liner or vault.
- Simplicity: a plainer process, with fewer things to choose and buy.
- A more natural landscape — native planting and settling ground rather than mown lawn and a headstone.
- Simpler forms of remembrance, such as a shared communal marker and the planted site itself.
- Ecological values, and wanting a lighter footprint.
- Choosing a burial that reflects how someone lived — their sense of restraint, or their connection to nature and place.
None of this makes green burial the right choice for everyone, or a “better” one. Conventional burial and cremation suit many families for good reasons. These are simply some of the reasons people give for choosing green burial.
Definition
How the City of Campbell River defines it.
The City’s Cemetery Management Bylaw defines green burial as “a natural form of interment where such interment satisfies specific criteria set out in this Bylaw for green burial.”
In practice, a green burial at Elk Falls Cemetery means the following.
The body is not embalmed
Human remains buried in the green burial area must be in a natural state and not embalmed.
A fully biodegradable container or shroud
The body is clothed, wrapped or shrouded in natural, fully biodegradable fibre or material, and enclosed in a shroud, casket or alternative container that is primarily made of biodegradable, environmentally sustainable materials. The container must have a rigid base so it can be carried and lowered safely, and it must be approved by the City before the service.
No grave liner or vault
No grave box, grave liner or protective vault is used in a green burial lot.
A shared communal marker
Individual headstones and markers are not placed on green burial lots. If a family wants an inscription, the City makes it on a communal memorial, on one line: the person’s name and the years of birth and death.
Native planting, managed by the City
Planting in the green burial area follows a set planting plan and uses only trees, shrubs, groundcover and wildflowers native to the local climate. Only the City plants or supervises planting in the area.
City of Campbell River Cemetery Management Bylaw No. 3733, 2019, Part 2 (definition), Part 9 (arts. 9.8–9.14, 9.23–9.37) and Schedule A (s.2.2). General information, not legal or funeral-planning advice.
In context
How it differs from conventional burial and cremation.
Conventional burial. In the City’s other lots, a body is placed in a burial container and then into a City-standard grave liner, which is normally required and paid for by the family. Individual markers and monuments are allowed, within the City’s memorial specifications. A green burial lot is the only human-remains lot type, apart from an infant lot, that is exempt from the grave liner requirement.
Cremation. Cremation is a separate process carried out at a crematorium. Cremated remains can be interred in a cemetery lot in an approved urn. They can also be placed in the green burial area, but only in a fully biodegradable urn or container with no plastic or metal liner, and scattering is not permitted in City cemeteries.
How green burial actually works — a deeper look →
Bylaw arts. 8.16–8.17 (burial container and grave liner), 8.21 and 9.19 (cremated remains), Schedule A s.3.2 (no scattering), Schedule B (memorials).
Decision guide
Start with what matters to you.
Before choosing between green burial, cremation or conventional burial, it can help to think about your own values, traditions and preferences. This short guide gives you a place to start.
Wider movement
Green burial beyond Campbell River.
Green burial is a recognised practice across Canada. Two organisations come up often: Green Burial BC, a provincial network, and the Green Burial Society of Canada, which sets principles that natural burial grounds are expected to follow and keeps an approved-provider directory.
Green Burial BC lists Elk Falls Cemetery as a hybrid green cemetery — a conventional cemetery with a dedicated green burial area. GreenBurialCR has not found Elk Falls listed as a Green Burial Society of Canada approved provider. This site keeps its focus on what the City’s bylaw requires at Elk Falls.
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