El Mirage funeral business 1st in state to offer natural burials

When Shiloh Garner of Maricopa began helping her mother with funeral pre-planning, having a "green," natural burial became an important consideration.

"We had heard about green burials and thought it was a great alternative," Garner said. "We want to find a route that was more friendly to the earth, where there's no embalming or casket that is made with material that isn't biodegradable."

"The whole idea of green burials is more natural, and returning a person to the earth like in the olden days," Garner said.

She found that option at Sunwest Funeral Chapel and Cemetery in El Mirage, which is the first cemetery in Arizona to offer green burials as part of its services.

Those who opt for a green burial at Sunwest will forgo embalming, and will be buried in either a biodegradable shroud or casket made of wood or cardboard, with no concrete grave vault or grave liner.

There will be no headstones marking the grave, but native plants and low-water trees can be selected to be placed at the grave site.

The cemetery will have a seminar on green burials and cremations at 10 a.m. May 23 on site at 12525 W. Grand Ave., El Mirage.

"We're a pretty progressive, family-owned business," said general manager Paul Gabriel. "And we saw the green burial movement coming to life, and had a few customers come in now and then asking for it."

Gabriel said he researched green burial services offered through other companies in Washington State and New York and created a plan.

A section of the property, separate from the traditional burial sites, is dedicated for green burials, beginning with a 16-burial plot site that is prepped and ready. There is room for expansion up to 400 spots.

Green burial plots will be 4-feet deep, and dug by hand. A traditional gravesite is 6- to 7-feet deep.

After the casket or shroud is placed in the grave and packed with dirt, it will be covered with an additional six inches of biodegradable material, such as leaf, palm or grass clippings, used to hasten the decomposition.

"It is meant to help (the body) return to earth as fast as we can," Gabriel said.

Though each green grave is designated for one person, instead of double-stacking caskets which is an option for traditional burials, Sunwest also offers the option of making the original burial site available for recycling as a burial space in the future.

Gabriel said green burials would be fully integrated in the soil and surroundings in about 20 years.

Those opting for a green burial will be able to select a pine casket through Sunwest at a cost of about $700 to $995. Burial is $3,200, including the plants and tree.

By comparison, a direct cremation is $1,595 without services, and $3500 with services.

A traditional burial with a casket averages about $5,500, though caskets alone can cost from $995 to $8,000.

Customers may purchase their own biodegradable casket or shroud elsewhere.

"Some people aren't comfortable with even a wood casket, so a biodegradable shroud is an option," Gabriel said.

Green burials are part of an overall effort of greening the Sunwest Funeral Home and Cemetery services, Gabriel said, and making it more user-friendly.

The cemetery is in talks with the city of El Mirage to develop a community garden, which would be a way for the cemetery to use compost from its landscaping.

"We cut a ton of grass, and we have too much compost," Gabriel said "We could give them the compost material that we don't use to heal new graves."

Sunwest also is purchasing a wind generator for a new well and pump.

And Sunwest is working with Arizona Game and Fish to introduce sparrow hawks and barn owls to the property to manage unwanted rabbits and gophers.

"It's about sustainability and the life of the cemetery," Gabriel said.

For information, call 623-974-2054.

Joy Slagowski may be reached at 623-876-2514 or jslagowski@yourwestvalley.com.