Biodegradable & Eco-Friendly Urns for Ashes

At Funeral.com, we help families choose biodegradable urns for ashes that feel personal, simple to use, and aligned with the values of the person you’re honoring. Many eco urns are designed to break down in soil over time, while others are created specifically for water ceremonies, dissolving gently after placement.

A Natural Choice for Green Burial, Scattering, and Water Ceremonies

Eco-friendly urns are often selected for:

• Green burial urn placement in soil (including memorial gardens or natural burial grounds, where permitted).
• Scattering urn ceremonies (land-based or in meaningful outdoor settings).
• Water burial or sea ceremonies using water-soluble urns that float briefly and dissolve or disperse gradually.

Eco-Friendly Urn Types Families Commonly Consider

To match different plans and settings, families often look for:

• Woven natural-fiber urns (like palm leaf urn, seagrass urn, and rattan urn) for a grounded, natural look and biodegradable burial.
• Water-soluble urns / dissolving urns for water ceremonies, commonly made with mineral-based or paper-clay blends (including sand and salt urn styles).
• Biodegradable scattering tubes (often recycled paper or paper composites) designed for travel, handling, and simple scattering.
• Plantable “tree urn” / living urn kits for a living memorial (often bamboo- or plant-based components depending on the brand).

Materials and Natural Craftsmanship

Biodegradable and eco-friendly cremation urns are commonly made from earth-friendly materials such as:

• Palm leaves, seagrass, rattan, and other woven plant fibers
• Recycled paper / paper-based composites
• Bamboo
• Natural clay and mineral blends
• Sand and salt (often used for water-soluble or sea ceremony urns)

Choosing the Right Size

A simple guideline is one cubic inch of urn capacity for each pound of body weight before cremation. Standard adult urns often hold around 200 cubic inches (and some eco urns are sized similarly).

Planning Notes for Water Burial (Ocean Ceremonies)

If you’re planning burial at sea in U.S. ocean waters, the EPA’s burial-at-sea guidance is important: the general permit allows burial at sea of cremated human remains under specific conditions (including being at least 3 nautical miles from shore) and it does not apply to pet cremains. Reporting is required after the ceremony (the EPA notes reporting within 30 days).

For lakes, rivers, and other inland waters, rules can vary by state and local jurisdiction.