Natural burials get the go-ahead

Motueka cemetery has become the first place in the South Island where natural burials can be performed legally.

Tasman District Council reserves manager Beryl Wilkes confirmed that the cemetery could now accept natural burials, a development that has pleased longtime advocate for the idea, Living Legacies owner Lynda Hannah.

The Motueka-based business helps families run their own funeral service and Ms Hannah has been promoting environmentally sustainable burial for several years, saying they are less costly for families as well as for the planet.

In a natural burial at Motueka, unembalmed bodies will be buried at a single depth in a biodegradable container or a burial shroud and decompose naturally. After internment, trees or shrubs are planted on the site and the location marked with small wooden plaque.

Ms Wilkes said the Motueka cemetery was selected as the first in Tasman because it is the most central in the district and the selected site is adjacent to an area of significant native planting. The council is also looking at making natural burial sites available at Rototai and Spring Grove cemeteries.

Ms Wilkes said that based on demand for natural burials elsewhere, she expected there would be about one natural burial at Motueka every two years. Ms Hannah said because natural burials were not well known yet, initial demand would be low, but based on the experience of England, where "woodland burials" have become more mainstream since they began 18 years ago, she expected demand to grow. The first block set aside at Motueka has 40 plots, which Ms Wilkes said would "last us several years".

She said it had taken a long time to get to this point because the council had faced questions over natural burials and "we had to make sure we got it right and we had it in the right place".

When the Nelson City Council heard submissions on natural burials, Francis Day, of Marsden House Funeral Services, told the council that "putrefaction" of a body that was not embalmed created soil toxicity, a claim that was dismissed by Ms Hannah. Ms Wilkes said she was satisfied the council had answered any such questions to its satisfaction.

Ms Hannah said she began lobbying the council to approve sites about nine years ago and that it seemed "the wheels of bureaucracy move very slowly". But she praised the council for its forward thinking and Ms Wilkes for her support.

Nelson City Council administration adviser Richard Palmer said the council, which heard submissions on natural burials about 18 months ago, had said they thought it was a probably a good idea but was waiting for a report from the parks and facilities manager before proceeding. The report was not a high priority and the council had not pushed for it, he said.

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