Dust to Dust? Green burial in Great Britain

Oak Grove International's "Summerfield" line is fairly typical of the caskets American funeral directors sell. Available in nine rich colors, it's lined with plush velvet trim. And because it's made of thick, reinforced fiberglass, it's not biodegradable, "thereby protecting the body from the environment, and the environment from the body, for countless tomorrows," as the Michigan-based company says on its Internet web site.

Doric's "Lydian" burial vault, meanwhile, seems a fine receptacle to encase one's Summerfield. Weighing "as much as an automobile," this baby is made of special concrete designed to resist 5,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, and is bonded to reinforced plastic and copper. With an inner liner of fiber-reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (the same material used in NFL football helmets), and a butyl seal, the unit resists penetration by soil, air, water and practically anything else that might contaminate the body.

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