Sales of “green” burials are expected to begin next year in Hamilton.
City council, at a meeting on Wednesday, is expected to finalize plans to allow naturalized burials in an 8,400-square-metre section of Mount Hamilton Cemetery on Rymal Road East.
Green burials involve the use of biodegradable containers or shrouds, while avoiding embalming chemicals, traditional caskets and concrete burial chambers.
Within the prescribed section of Mount Hamilton Cemetery, names will be inscribed on a central monument with trails intersecting an area seeded with wildflowers.
Kara Bunn, Hamilton’s manager of parks and cemeteries, has told members of the public works committee that plantings and any needed design work will start this year with sales of lots likely to follow in 2022.
Bunn notes that they’ll be “laying out some walkway locations and a central area for memorialization.”
Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr says the proposal “is definitely answering a growing call” from members of the community, adding that “it’ll be as natural as one would expect for something as sacred and important.”
As part of the plan, the City of Hamilton is also looking to allow residents to be buried with a beloved, cremated pet in some areas of the cemetery.