14 DAY TRIAL // With the risk of sounding grim, if you ever thought of an alternative, more interesting burial instead of the regular one, guess what, some companies did too. And we're not talking about launching the remains into space or compressing the ashes into a diamond but, in fact, about a kind that could actually aid the environment. More specifically, as cremated remains are buried in the ocean floor, mixed with concrete into special “reef balls,” they could help reef rebuild themselves in time.
This is a long-shot process, but the Reef Ball Foundation and the Eternal Reefs Inc. have proved it works. The latter organization specializes in offering rather cheap burial alternatives, creating “permanent living legacies” in order to “memorialize the passing of a loved one.” It prefers to help in the formation of a “living legacy” – the coral reef under which the cremated bodies are buried – instead of encouraging ash spreading or urn burial.
The company also provides military ceremonies and tries to be very flexible in terms of its clients' requests. As the ashes are mixed into a concrete paste and poured into igloo-like formations, the family is invited to leave a handprint or other marks in the undried cement. Surely, one doesn't have to wait until one dies in order to help the reef rebuilding efforts. “Not at all, but when you do, it is a great way to help the bay,” says George Frankel, Eternal Reefs CEO. Currently, the cost for such a burial service ranges from $2,495 (about 2,000 Euros) to $6,495 (about 5,200 Euros), which is very often less than the price for a regular one, although cremation is not included in the cost.
Employees from the Reef Ball Foundation have built more than half a million of the occasion-marking concrete domes all over the world. Their collaboration with Eternal Reefs is an ambitious project, given the way people address the death issue, ethically or religiously, but much to their surprise, it seems many have comprehended that the sea provides a much nicer view than a graveyard, while the deceased find themselves lying among the living beings of the ocean, some of which they help thrive.