There is growing awareness across Australia about the environmental impact of death. Traditional burials tend to use embalming fluid and plastic-lined coffins. Cremations, often powered by fossil fuels, can emit carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and mercury from tooth fillings.

For years, Hart has been advocating for a “natural burial ground” in Byron Shire to address these issues, but Michael died in 2020, before her group of volunteers had managed to establish one.

In a natural burial ground, bodies are buried about 1.2 metres deep, without embalming, in biodegradable coffins and with natural fabrics. There are no headstones, just GPS locators buried with the body. Instead of visiting a cemetery, the idea is that grieving families visit a regenerated, living forest.

Byron Shire Council abandoned plans for a natural burial ground in Mullumbimby last November, after a report found the soil was too heavy and wet and too poor quality to allow for easy decomposition. Hart disputes these findings.

The council will now investigate the suitability of two other sites in the shire, but Hart says it is a blow for more than 350 people, some of whom are nearing the end of their lives, who have said they want to be buried at the site.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the state, in Bodalla, plans are afoot to open what is believed to be the NSW’s first standalone natural burial ground.

Fiona McCuaig won council approval last year to set up the burial ground on her parents’ farm, and hopes to use it to regenerate the agricultural land and provide habitat for lyrebirds and black cockatoos.

She expects the site to open next year. “They have done studies with grieving and bereavement, and found that for people who are grieving, it is so much nicer to visit a place that is full of life.

“Traditional burials are now seen to some people as underground landfill. We’re taking it back to what we’ve done for 99 per cent of human existence, which is to simply put our bodies back in the ground for future life.”

A handful of cemeteries have a natural burial section in NSW, but advocates say the gold standard is a standalone site because it allows for regeneration and conservation of the land.

Natural Deaths Advocacy Network president Bec Lyons says the process also helps families with their grief. “They encourage families to make sure that the last thing they do for their loved person is an act of service.”

Hart says the final acts of service she carried out for Michael sustained her through her grief, as her friend told her they would.

She has realised she wants to be buried beside Michael, in the same environmentally friendly way, and has reserved the adjoining plot at the local cemetery.

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But she is still advocating for a Byron natural burial ground. She says it is essential Australia embraces standalone natural burial grounds.

“We cannot keep putting people in traditional cemeteries and cremating them. It’s unsustainable.

“Do you want your final resting place to be part of the problem or part of the solution? For me, it’s just a no-brainer.”

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