Call to offer natural burials

There are strict rules about how you can be buried in Rotorua and New Zealand however, there are proposals to have some of those rules changed. Photo/Stephen Parker

It happens to everybody, but Rotorua's Alf Hoyle wants his to be as natural as possible.

The rules around how and where you can be buried in New Zealand are strict.

But there are plans to offer more options.

Mr Hoyle said he would prefer a natural burial and would rather not be filled with toxic embalming fluids and buried six feet deep in a wooden box.

"I have for a long time suggested to the district council that natural burials are the way to go. Already several councils in New Zealand have plots put aside for this very thing.

"No rubbish pumped into your body, buried shallow, a tree planted over you and that's it," Mr Hoyle said.

"It creates beauty and is a place for the living as well as the dead."

Rotorua District Council parks and recreation manager Garry Page said people had to be buried at least 1.2m deep under the current rules.

If a person wants to be buried anywhere other than a public or private cemetery or urupa they must get permission from their nearest district court judge, who would be guided by recommendations from the Medical Officer of Health.

"Permission is not given lightly for private property burials due to issues such as what happens if the property is sold," Mr Page said.

With regard to ashes, he said there was no regulation regarding locations except gaining the landowner's consent.

"Water is considered sacred to Maori and so scattering ashes within lakes, streams and rivers may not be acceptable."

But Mr Page said there was a growing demand for natural burials around the country and the council was designing a new cemetery for Rotorua near the Lake View Golf Club.

"The design, size and specific location of an area for natural burials within the cemetery site are yet to be finalised.

"The council plans to have meetings with local ethnic communities to understand their requirements so these can be taken into account as the new cemetery design is progressed," he said.

Osbornes Funeral Home owner Keith Osborne said he had not had any out-of-the-ordinary burial requests, neither had White Haven Funeral Home co-owner Tamahau Palmer.

"I've never been asked to do a eco-style burial, but I hear you don't always need a casket in Wellington.

"A lot of our customs originate in England so they are quite conservative," he said.

Mr Palmer said he had not experienced a natural burial.

"In Taranaki some [Maori] are put into a flax casket but we don't have that here.

"The things they did were all common sense ... like washing your hands when you leave the cemetery, which is more about health and safety than anything else, or making a site tapu to keep people out."

He said there were dangers relating to modern diseases and the rules were in place as health and safety measures.

"The embalming process is about protecting the living, so this has to be taken on board as well," he said.