Green Burial, Water Cremation and Human Composting: Costs Compared

A green burial in the US costs about $4,500 to $6,000 at the cemetery, plus any funeral home charges. Water cremation (aquamation) costs about the same as a flame cremation or a little more. One North Carolina provider lists $3,500 all in. Human composting costs the most of the three, at $5,950 to $7,000 from the two Washington providers we checked. All prices were read on the providers' own websites on 2 November 2026.

Interest is growing. In the NFDA's 2025 survey, 61.4% of people said they would be interested in exploring "green" funeral options, up from 55.7% in 2021 (NFDA). But availability depends on where you live. This page compares the three options on cost, legality and what each involves, so you can decide if one fits you.

What are the three eco-friendly options?

Here is each one in plain words.

• Green or natural burial. The body is buried without embalming, in a simple biodegradable coffin or a cloth shroud. There is usually no concrete vault. Many sites use a flat stone or no marker at all. In the UK, this is often called woodland burial.
• Water cremation, also called aquamation or alkaline hydrolysis. Instead of flame, it uses water, alkaline chemicals, heat and sometimes pressure. The process takes three to sixteen hours. The family receives bone fragments, like ashes, usually in an urn (CANA).
• Human composting, also called natural organic reduction or terramation. The body is placed in a vessel with wood chips, alfalfa and straw. Microbes turn it into soil over about two to three months. Each body creates about one cubic yard of soil (Recompose).

How much does each option cost?

Prices vary a lot by area. These are real examples from providers' own websites, not national averages.

Option	Example price	What the provider says is included	Source
Natural burial, NC	$5,300 (grasslands) to $6,000 (woodlands)	Burial right, opening and closing the grave, an unengraved stone, perpetual care	Bluestem
Natural burial, SC	$4,500 to $5,500	Hand-dug grave, burial coordination, GPS recording, native stone marker, perpetual care	Carolina Memorial Sanctuary
Burial of ashes in a natural ground, NC	$2,350	Burial right and fees	Bluestem
Water cremation, NC	$3,500	Transport, paperwork, death certificate preparation, aquamation, bamboo urn	Endswell
Human composting, WA	$5,950 (standard)	Transport to Auburn, WA (more for some locations), paperwork, soil returned or donated	Return Home
Human composting, WA	$7,000	Care and guidance from death to the return of the soil	Recompose

For comparison, the US median direct cremation was $1,995 in 2026 (Asurgo). A funeral with a viewing and burial had a median of $8,300, before cemetery costs (NFDA).

What costs extra?

• The funeral home. A natural burial ground usually does not collect the body or file paperwork. Carolina Memorial Sanctuary says funeral home services must be paid separately.
• The coffin or shroud. It is often not included. Green burial grounds usually require it to be biodegradable.
• Transport across state lines. Human composting is offered in only a few places. Moving a body there can add to the cost.
• Engraving. Natural sites often give a stone but charge for engraving.

Green burial in the UK

In the UK, SunLife's 2026 report puts the average woodland burial plot at £2,207. That is a little less than the £2,374 average for a cemetery plot. The fee for a service there is about £390 (SunLife report, PDF). Funeral directors told SunLife that about 6% of the funerals they arrange are woodland burials.

Where are water cremation and human composting legal?

This is the biggest limit. Laws are made state by state.

Human composting in the US

As of November 2026, Recompose lists 14 states where human composting has been legalised (Recompose):

Washington (the first, in 2019), Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, California, New York, Nevada, Arizona, Maryland, Delaware, Minnesota, Maine, Georgia and New Jersey.

Bills have been introduced in other states, including Illinois, New Hampshire and Utah. Return Home in Washington says it serves families in all US states, with transport to its facility.

Water cremation in the US and Canada

The Cremation Association of North America lists 26 US states where alkaline hydrolysis is legal, as of March 2026 (CANA):

Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

In Canada, CANA lists Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan (as of September 2026).

CANA adds an important warning. "Legalization of the process does not mean it is publicly or readily available." Some states with legal water cremation have no provider yet.

The UK

In England and Wales, there is no specific law for these new methods yet. "At the time of writing, there are no new funerary methods in use in England and Wales," the Law Commission said in its 2026 report. It recommended a new legal framework to regulate them (Law Commission, 2026).

Scotland has moved further. It has made regulations that allow alkaline hydrolysis. But the Scottish Government says it "is not yet widely available in Scotland" (Scottish Government).

So in the UK today, natural or woodland burial is the eco option you can easily choose.

How do the three compare beyond price?

	Green burial	Water cremation	Human composting
What the family receives	A grave, often unmarked or with a flat stone	Bone fragments in an urn, like ashes	About one cubic yard of soil, or a share of it
Time from death to final result	Burial within days	About a day for the process	About two to three months
A place to visit	Yes, the grave	Optional, as with ashes	Optional, for example a tree or garden
Availability	Natural burial grounds in many US states and across the UK	26 US states, some provinces, Scotland	14 US states, few providers
Embalming	Not used	Not needed	Not used

What about faith?

Faith rules apply here too. Islam and traditional Jewish law require burial. A simple natural burial may fit their customs well. Chabad.org, an Orthodox Jewish source, says Jewish law forbids cremation and discusses whether composting is allowed (Chabad.org). If your faith matters to you, ask your faith leader before you choose a newer method. Our cremation vs burial page has more on faith.

How do you choose and arrange an eco option?

1. Check the law and providers in your state. Use the lists above, then search for a provider near you.
2. Ask for the full price. Get the provider's price list in writing. In the US, funeral homes must give you an itemised General Price List under the FTC Funeral Rule. Our guide to funeral home price tricks explains your rights.
3. Ask what the cemetery or facility requires. Coffin materials, shrouds, markers and timing rules vary.
4. Plan the funeral home part. Someone still needs to collect the body and handle the paperwork. Ask your provider who does this.
5. Decide what happens after. For water cremation, where the remains go. For composting, whether the family keeps the soil or donates it.

You can compare these prices with standard options in our line-by-line funeral cost guide, or check typical costs for your country in our free funeral cost estimator.

Why plan an eco option ahead?

Because a family cannot easily arrange something they have never heard of. In a hurry, most people choose the usual burial or cremation. If you want something different, it needs to be written down and known.

Pick your option, find a provider, and note the price you saw and the date. Then tell your family. The Library's Funeral & Memorial Planning worksheet lists natural or green burial as a choice. It also has a cost table for the prices you find. Our guide on how to plan your own funeral shows the other choices to write down.