Environmentally Conscious Pet Farewells: Providing Eco-friendly Memorials for Pet Owners
In recent years, an increasing number of pet owners in the United States are opting for eco-friendly pet funerals as a heart-warming way to say goodbye to their beloved pets while maintaining care for the earth. These green aftercare options are becoming more popular, with more eco-friendly pet cemeteries emerging across the country.
Eco-friendly pet funerals focus on sustainable, low-impact methods to honor pets while minimizing environmental harm. The main eco-friendly options for pet funerals are aquamation (also known as alkaline hydrolysis), flame-based cremation with environmental measures, and biodegradable pet burial options.
Aquamation is a water-based cremation process that uses a gentle flow of water, heat, and alkali to break down the pet’s body into its essential elements without fire or fossil fuels. This method results in zero direct greenhouse gas emissions, unlike flame-based cremation, which contributes significantly to CO2 emissions. Aquamation conserves over 90% of energy compared to traditional fire cremation and returns remains usually containing about 20-30% more material than flame cremation remains.
Flame-based cremation can be made more eco-friendly by using secondary chambers to significantly reduce pollutants and modern crematories optimizing energy consumption. Some providers offer to upgrade traditional flame cremation services to aquamation at no extra cost as part of their sustainability commitment.
Biodegradable pet burial options include cardboard pet coffins, bamboo or wicker pet caskets, and organic burial shrouds made from wool, linen, or cotton. These materials naturally decompose, returning the pet to the earth without an unwanted environmental footprint.
Sustainable pet memorial keepsakes, such as plantable seed-paper memorial cards, natural stone or clay paw print impressions, biodegradable urns that grow into trees, eco-conscious memorial jewellery, are also growing in popularity among pet owners.
Eco-friendly pet cemeteries are not only places for pet burials but also local wildlife and green space areas. Some eco-friendly pet cemeteries have rules such as biodegradable shroud and container requirements, no use of embalming chemicals, and allowing vegetation to grow around burial sites. In the United States in 2025, there are more eco-friendly pet cemeteries than there were 10 years ago.
Ellen Diamond, a psychology graduate from the University of Hertfordshire, has a keen interest in the fields of mental health, wellness, and lifestyle. She notes that eco-friendly pet funerals offer pet owners a way to say goodbye to their pets in a greener manner, without impacting the local ecosystem.
Awareness of eco-friendly pet funerals is growing in the US and abroad, and it's expected that more veterinary clinics and funeral homes will offer these types of green aftercare options on a broad scale in the near future. These services provide a compassionate, dignified goodbye that respects both the pet and the planet.
[1] AquaCrossings (Arizona) - https://www.aquacrossings.com/ [2] Gentle Pet Crossing (Florida) - https://gentlepetcrossing.com/ [3] International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories - https://www.iaoppcc.org/ [4] Pet Loss Education and Counseling Center - https://www.petloss.com/
- Ellen Diamond, a psychology graduate, finds that eco-friendly pet funerals allow pet owners to bid farewell to their pets in a way that respects both their pets and the environment.
- Awareness about eco-friendly pet funerals is growing, and it's anticipated that more veterinary clinics and funeral homes will offer these services on a broader scale in the near future.
- Biodegradable pet burial options like cardboard coffins, bamboo or wicker caskets, and organic shrouds made from wool, linen, or cotton naturally decompose, leaving no unwanted environmental footprint.
- Aquamation, a water-based cremation process, is gaining popularity due to its low-impact method and zero greenhouse gas emissions, as compared to traditional flame-based cremation.
