Exploring Green Burials: A Sustainable Way to Honor Loved Ones in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa

When it's your time, will you choose to be buried in a traditional manner with your body in a casket and placed six feet under in a cemetery? Or, cremation where your ashes will be deposited in an urn to then land on a loved one's mantel or shelf, or possibly a mausoleum.

If you are able to plan and choose how and where your remains will go there are other non-traditional options. There are many types of burials to choose from today.

Many states now offer Green Burial, sometimes referred to as an environmentally friendly burial option.

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Call it what you like; eco-friendly, natural burial, green burial, natural resting, in-ground, above-ground, or cremation. So many ways to be buried and so many terms.

Most states have unique rules about embalming, burial or cremation, and scattering ashes.

There are over 400 locations across the United States where a person's body can have a green burial.

In South Dakota, there are two such locations:

Hills of Rest Memorial Park
Mt. Pleasant Cemetery

Laws governing burial in South Dakota.

Nine locations are listed in Minnesota:

Fort Snelling National Cemetery
Mound Cemetery of Brooklyn Center
Oak Hill Cemetery
Prairie Oaks Memorial Eco Gardens
Resurrection Cemetery-Catholic
Resurrection Cemetery-Lutheran
Roselawn Cemetery
St. Vincent Cemetery
Whitewater Cemetery

Laws governing burial in Minnesota.

Just one in Iowa:
Rose Hill Memorial Gardens Prairieview Preserve

Laws governing burial in Iowa.