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Eco-Friendly Options

Here at Threadgill’s Memorial Services, we offer gentle, eco-friendly alternatives to typical flame cremation.

 

 

Terramation

 

Terramation quickly and gently transforms loved ones’ bodies to living soil that can be returned to nature. This process happens in the natural world all the time. Terramation just makes it happen faster. This ecologically sound deathcare option conserves natural resources and avoids the environmental consequences of conventional burial and cremation. How does Terramation help the environment?

  • All Natural: Terramation is chemical free and uses only natural materials and oxygen during this gentle transformation.
  • Conserves Energy: Our process is energy-efficient and does not require burning fossil fuels, drastically reducing pollutants entering the environment.
  • Improves Soil Quality: Terramated soil returns life-giving nutrients to the earth and helps retain nitrogen in our soil.
  • Saves and Restores Land: Excess soil is retuned to lands in need of restoration and environmental rehabilitation.

 

Frequently Asked Qustions

How does Terramation work?



1. The body is placed in a sealed, environmentally controlled vessel along with organic materials such as alfalfa, straw and sawdust.

2. Oxygen flows through the vessel which stimulates microbes in the body to become super-active. These microbes quickly transform the body into organic matter. This process is closely monitored and controlled.

3. After 30-days, the body the soil is removed from the vessel to cure, and in 60-days ready to return to the earth.

4. The soil is then delivered to your family. You may take as much soil as you wish. Any soil you do not wish use will nurture land in need of revitalization.

Are Terramation and NOR (Natural Organic Reduction) the same?



While other companies offer natural organic reduction or human composting services, methods differ widely. We have chosen to partner with Washington-based Return Home because their proprietary Terramation service was designed to respect and honor the body.

How much soil does the family receive and how can it be used?



The Terramation process yields about 1.5 cubic yards of soil per body – enough to fill the bed of a pickup truck. Families are welcome to take as much soil as they wish. The soil is rich in life-giving nutrients and marvelously fertile, making it ideal for gardens and landscapes. Create a memorial flower garden or plant a tree. Scatter it in a place that is sacred to you. Donate what remains to nurture forests and land in need of revitalization to help restart the cycle of life.



Green Burials

 

What is green burial?

Green (or natural) burial emphasizes simplicity and environmental sustainability. The body is neither cremated nor prepared with chemicals such as embalming fluids. It is simply placed in a biodegradable casket or burial shroud and interred without a concrete burial vault. The grave site is allowed to return to nature. The goal is complete decomposition of the body and its natural return to the soil. Only then can a burial truly be “ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” a phrase so often used when we bury our dead.

 

Why choose green burial?

Green burials are not new. Most burials before the mid-19th century were conducted this way, as are many Jewish and Muslim burials today. Green burials are enjoying a resurgence in popularity, for a number of reasons:

  • Simplicity. The idea of wrapping the body in a shroud or placing it in a plain, unadorned coffin appeals to those who prefer their burial arrangement to be simple, natural and unpretentious.
  • Lower cost. Because green burials do not involve embalming, fancy caskets, or concrete vaults, they can be a very cost-effective alternative to conventional burials, lowering the cost by thousands of dollars. If the family supplies their own shroud or coffin, the cost can be further reduced.
  • Conserving natural resources. Each year US cemeteries bury over 30 million board feet of hardwood and 90,000 tons of steel in caskets, 17,000 tons of steel and copper in vaults, and 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete in vaults. With green burial, fewer resources are used.
  • Eliminating hazardous chemicals. For some, forgoing the embalming process is the main attraction, since embalming fluid contains formaldehyde, a respiratory irritant and known carcinogen. In the US about 5.3 million gallons of embalming fluid are used every year, and funeral home workers are exposed to it routinely.
  • Preserving natural areas. Love of nature and a desire for “eternal rest” in a forever-wild meadow or forest are frequently-cited reasons for choosing green burial. The burial sites restore or preserve a natural landscape populated by native trees, shrubs and wildflowers; the sites offer food and refuge to birds and other wildlife. The most conservation-intensive green cemeteries do not use fertilizer, pesticides, or herbicides. A green cemetery can be an important component in the acquisition and conservation of native habitats.

Are you still wondering about a green, or natural, burial? Herland Forest Natural Burial Cemetery, located in in south-central Washington about 80 miles east of Portland, OR, is an active advocate and participant in natural burials. “In the Herland Forest there’s no embalming; people return to the earth as they lived. There are no expensive caskets; just a simple pine box, or a linen winding sheet, or nothing at all. There’s no concrete vault, just woodchips and daffodils.” And with Washington becoming, in 2019, the first state to approve human composting, other green burial options are also available in the state, as reported by KOIN 6 News.

Threadgill’s Memorial Services, LLC
Phone: 503-526-3952
4815 SW Jamieson Road, Beaverton, OR

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