I have.
It's not quite as straight forward as it seems.
The funeral "industry" is gung ho for embalming.....and they claim whatever the hell they like, but it might be 'safe' at point of use....they flush your blood down the sewer and fill you up with chemicals.....but it definitely isn't in the long term.
No one excavates a modern grave without suiting up, because the blasted chemicals they use are toxic, they sublimate, etc.,
It's also one of the reasons that there are so many limitations on planning permissions for cremations/crematoriums. It's not the coffins burning that the issue, its the formaldehyde components in the embalming process.
The issue for forest burials comes up against this because undertakers won't keep a body very long without embalming it, and since they don't do the autopsy deep freeze as a general rule, frozen isn't an option.
Forest burial sites are pretty rare, so it can take time to get the funeral organised....and actually physically get the body on site.
They generally insist that the body isn't embalmed, so the family can have real problems getting it sorted quickly enough.
Honestly ? an unembalmed, natural materials coffin, cremation is actually easier.
I wish it weren't. I like the sound of how Archbishop Tutu's body was treated. Just crumbled bone at the end.
Throw the ashes in the river, bury it under a sapling, that'll do me. So long as it's back to the cycle of life, I'd be happy with that.
Have a google for Forest Burials, problems, and it'll surprise you.
It ought to be such a simple clean alternative. A truly natural process. I have RA, I might come from a very long lived family but this damned disease greatly limits my life and will most certainly shorten it. I wanted everything organised and left tidy so that it was easy for my family to deal with instead of adding to all the upset.
It wasn't so simple as I had hoped.
M
