Green Options
How Environmentally friendly would you like your funeral to be?
At M.H.O’Rourke, we understand the need to care for the environment. That’s why we’ve developed Green Options. They are a substantial way to celebrate and remember life.
Green Options
There are a number of ways in which you can make your funeral plans more environmentally friendly. By selecting just one or all of the following Green Options, you will be making the choice for a better world.
Environmentally friendly coffins and caskets
Our Green Coffin is 99% biodegradable.
This natural coloured coffin is made from plantation pine wood left untreated and unbleached. It features a double-raised lid with four timber handles, a matching timber nameplate and a calico material interior.
Organic mortuary products
Our organic mortuary products are naturally derived and use certified organic ingredients. Using these non-toxic organic products helps to prevent ground contamination, lessoning our impact on the environment.
Memorial books & orders of service made from recycled paper
As we all know, recycling paper can be very important. The main environmental benefit from recycling is the lower volume of rubbish going to rubbish tips. In some circumstances, recycling can reduce the amount of electricity used in making paper, and therefore the amount of greenhouse gases emitted. Our Green Options memorial books and orders of service are an attractive and environmentally friendly way to celebrate your loved ones.
Green burial choices
One cremation generates about 160 kilograms of carbon dioxide. With over 300,000 deaths in Australia per year, and about 70% of people choosing cremations, this equals to approximately 33,600 tonnes of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere every year. In most cases this makes choosing burial the greener option. Aside from green coffins or organic mortuary products, there are further green burial choices you can make. Such as a horse drawn hearse, or a natural memorial at the grave site.
Environmentally friendly urns
If you should choose to be cremated, we have a large selection of environmentally friendly and/or bio-degradable urns. Our bio-degradable urns are designed for ground interment, where once buried it will degrade naturally over time. Alternatively, we have a selection of urns fabricated by hand from the bark of the mulberry tree. When removed, the bark of the tree grows back, allowing us to harvest it without destroying the tree.
Tree planting program
At the commencement of each year we plant a tree for every funeral we have arranged. With a different location selected each year, this is a great way to benefit our community and our environment.