Wedding photographer Chloe Ianni is passionate about the environment and is careful not to make too much of an impact on the earth while she lives her life.
So, while the 32-year-old isn't planning to shuffle off any time soon, she doesn't see why her approach would be any different when she dies.
She's one of hundreds of people who have welcomed Wollongong City Council's recent move to set up its first natural burial ground, where people are buried without the use of embalming or any headstones so their body breaks down and leaves no mark on the earth.
"I care about the environment, I neutralise my emissions through my business, I'm vegan and I have a huge interest in gardening, so all those things combined has made me like the idea of returning to the earth as the ideal way to go," Ms Ianni said.
"As my body biodegrades I would become one with the planet and my energy isn't just wasted sitting there to last 1000 years by being embalmed or inside a coffin.
"It's like living on in another way, by the energy passing through and becoming part of other living things."
Wollongong's first natural burial ground at the Wollongong Lawn Cemetery at Kembla Grange, where 12 plots in a quiet, leafy section of the 50 hectare site have recently been set aside.
The council's Operations Manager for Memorial Gardens and Cemeteries Josh Saunders said there had been considerable interest in the new area since it was announced by the council.
The most striking difference from any other part of the cemetery will be the lack of headstones or other grave markers.
"We don't change the natural landscape in any way," Mr Saunders said, adding that there were plans for tree plantings in the area so it becomes a peaceful park for people to visit.
"In more traditional cemeteries, you've got rows upon rows of headstones, monuments, or beams with bronze plaques on them, which all involves excavation, concrete pouring and the addition of infrastructure."
"This is just a general area of parkland that is signposted, and the idea is that people would come to the area just to spend time, knowing that a loved one was buried here."
For legislative and practical requirements council gravediggers will map exactly where each grave is placed, using GPS to six decimal places which family members would be able to access to find their loved ones.
"Someone would be able to use an app on their phone, like a GPS app, and they would essentially be standing right on the centre of that grave," he said.
Anyone can request to be buried at the site - which has the potential to expand depending on how quickly the 12 graves are filled, with the plots being sold on an "at need" basis (meaning they can only be bought once a person has died, however a neighbouring plot can then be reserved for spouses).
Mr Saunders said all funeral homes in Wollongong were briefed late last year about the requirements of a natural burial.
This includes that anything going into the ground needs to be biodegradable - which means traditional synthetic-lined coffins, or those treated with lacquer needed to be replaced with more natural options.
"You can get compressed cardboard coffins these days pretty easily, or there are wicker ones - like big picnic baskets - and then also just your traditional pine timber ones that aren't stained," he said.
Any handles must be made or rope or other natural materials, and clothes and items being buried also need to be made of natural fibres, like hemp or cotton instead of polyester, or bodies can be buried without clothing or shrouds.
"It's all to promote decomposition as quickly as possible, with the idea being that you break down and return to the earth as nothing, and there's no chemicals or any dangerous stuff that is leached into that particular part of the environment," Mr Saunders said.
He said this practice is better for the environment than traditional burial or cremation, which has emissions associated with the act of being cremated.
Natural burials part of growing environmental push
Like in most industries, there's a push for funerals and burial to become carbon neutral, and Mr Saunders said he expected a steady increase in natural burials over time.
"I am anticipating that this will gain momentum in years to come, because the people that environmentally conscious tend to be a younger demographic," he said.
"Not always, of course, but the demographic of people in Illawarra that are towards the end of their lives tend to be more traditional and do still want to be able to purchase a site in advance and have a memorial there for people to go and visit, leave flowers and pay their respects."
He said people could also opt for a hybrid-style burial, where they can choose to have biodegradable coffin materials but be placed in a more traditional part of the cemetery where there can be a headstone or plaque.
Mr Saunders said one possible downside of the natural burial ground was that there would be no enduring monument, which would affect people in generations to come who wanted to research their family history.
"However, the council will keep these records on file, and in a way thats' already happening, where with many cremations people will come and pick up their loved ones ashes but we don't know where they end up and there's no memorial," he said.
This article first appeared in the Illawarra Mercury.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
