Welcome to our natural burial section in the cemetery at Ōtaki on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand. I’m Andrew and I just wanted to talk today about this natural burial cemetery. I was part of its inception way back when and did the first burial right up on the hill which is now full of bush.
As you can see this area is designed to actually bury shallow but unmarked other than these little wooden markers. So that as time, the cemetery grows, the trees, the shrubs grow up and actually connect with each other and eventually you can hardly see where the plaques were. The GPS marks that spot so if anything ever happens over time you know exactly where that was.
The deceased are placed in a very shallow grave in these cemeteries so that organic matter is placed on top of them and they start to break down and decompose in a natural way. And because of that you need to make sure that the deceased is dressed in something natural. The body is prepared first naturally so there are processes like eco-prep or any of those dry ice type treatments that preserve the body for only a short period but don’t use chemical.
The deceased is then as I said dressed in natural fibres and put in a casket. It has to be something natural very obviously. So New Zealand pine is probably the most common one and one of the caskets we use very commonly is a casket made of New Zealand regenerative pine with nice rope handles and then the lining inside is unbleached cotton.
The cemetery is a beautiful spot. It’s not for everyone but if you’re looking for an alternative to a traditional burial with a headstone and the lawn or the concrete cover this is probably a really ideal thing for you. You can’t have a double plot you just have to have the next one available and they are individual so it’s very much a place for the person who chooses to come here.
Plots are a little bit more expensive because you need more space and it is restricted what plants you can put on. We don’t want big trees we want native bush. We want those shrubs to actually grow.
So if you’re looking for a natural way to return to the elements then consider a natural burial such as this. So if you want to know more go to our website kapiticoastfuneralhome.co.nz / blogs and we also have a tab on there all about natural burials.
