A biodegradable casket or shroud is a body container made entirely of natural materials that break down in soil — unfinished pine, pressed wood, fiberboard, cardboard, wicker, cotton, linen or silk — with no metal, no sealed gasket and no fixed interior lining. Prices run from under $100 for a plain cardboard container to roughly $500–$700 for a cotton shroud and $1,200–$1,800 for a metal-free pine box, with a few artisan shrouds reaching $2,000. The rules are simpler than most families expect. No state law requires a casket for cremation or a concrete vault for burial; what constrains you is the cemetery's own policy, and at certified green cemeteries the policy runs the other way — a vault or liner is prohibited, and the container must be natural and biodegradable.
Table of Contents
- What counts as biodegradable, and what the law actually says
- Shroud prices and what you are paying for
- Casket prices, from cardboard to pine
- Certified green cemetery rules
- Grave and interment costs, and the price list you will not get
- Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as biodegradable, and what the law actually says
The federal benchmark is the FTC Funeral Rule's definition of an "alternative container." Under 16 C.F.R. § 453.1 it is a non-metal enclosure with no ornamentation and no fixed interior lining — typically unfinished wood, pressed wood, fiberboard or cardboard. That definition exists because cremation providers must offer one, and the FTC's guide to the Funeral Rule states plainly that a funeral home may not tell you state or local law requires a casket for direct cremation. The second myth is the vault.
The FTC says no state law anywhere in the United States requires an outer burial container — a vault or grave liner — and funeral homes must print that disclosure on the General Price List. Many cemeteries require one anyway, so the ground above the grave does not settle and sink. That is a contract term, not a statute, and it is the single rule most likely to block a biodegradable casket at a conventional cemetery. Shrouds sit outside the alternative-container definition entirely, because a shroud is cloth rather than an enclosure. Whether one is acceptable depends on the cemetery, and often on how the burial will be physically carried out.
Shroud prices and what you are paying for
Shroud pricing splits sharply by fabric and construction. Kinkaraco, a dedicated shroud maker, lists its undyed cotton-muslin TRU-GREEN BELIEVER at $499 and the PURELIGHT at $650–$699 on its green burial shroud pages — the PURELIGHT reformulated from linen to cotton muslin, which the company attributes to tariff increases. At the top of its range, the recycled-sari-silk Botanika Deathspa is $1,600 and the cotton mudcloth AFRICAINE is $2,000. What the money buys is handling.
A purpose-made shroud has sewn-in straps and lifting points so pallbearers can carry and lower a body without the cloth slipping. A plain sheet has none of that, which is why price here tracks engineering more than fabric. Some cemeteries do accept the plainest possible option. Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery in Florida says in its green burial FAQ that a shroud can be as simple as a cotton sheet — so the container cost can fall to almost nothing where the grounds allow it.
Casket prices, from cardboard to pine
The Funeral Rule protects your ability to shop. Under § 453.4(b) a provider may not condition any goods or services on buying a casket from it, and may not charge a handling fee for a casket or container you buy elsewhere.
FTC advisory opinion 07-4 cites that subsection, and the Third Circuit upheld the handling-fee ban in 41 F.3d 81. So a $200 cardboard container bought online must be accepted at no surcharge.
- Cardboard coffins: under $100 at the plain end, rising to about $400 for decorated or wood-look versions, according to retailer Titan Casket.
- Metal-free pine boxes: Titan Casket lists its Eco I at $1,199 and a Lancaster pine model at $1,799 on its pine box collection.
- Shroud plus backer board: the cloth cost plus a length of natural wood, which can undercut every casket option.
Certified green cemetery rules
At cemeteries certified by the Green Burial Council — a nonprofit that sets and audits green burial standards — the container requirement is written into the certification itself. The June 2026 revision of the GBC Cemetery Certification Standard permits burial only of decedents in containers made of renewable, natural, biodegradable materials, and prohibits outer burial containers, vault lids, concrete boxes, slabs and partitioned liners. The same standard restricts embalming.
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It accepts only bodies that were not embalmed, or that were embalmed with GBC-approved nontoxic chemicals — which rules out conventional formaldehyde embalming at certified grounds. Families planning a long viewing or an out-of-state transport should raise that early, because refrigeration and timing become the substitute plan. There is also a mechanical rule worth knowing before you choose cloth over wood. GBC guidance for hybrid cemeteries — conventional cemeteries with a green section — requires a shroud used without a casket to rest on a natural wood backer at least half an inch thick and the full length of the body, to stabilize the body during lowering.
Grave and interment costs, and the price list you will not get
The container is usually the smaller number. The Funeral Consumers Alliance estimates a green cemetery grave plus interment at roughly $1,000–$4,000 for a body and $200–$1,000 for cremated remains, and notes on its green options page that green plots are often larger, which can make them dearer rather than cheaper. Prairie Creek charges $2,000 for a body burial and $950 for cremated remains, with grave opening and closing included, and sells no individual plot rights.
Set that against a shroud or cardboard container and the arithmetic is clear: the cemetery's rules and fees, not the law, drive the total. One procedural warning. The Funeral Consumers Alliance points out that cemeteries — unlike funeral homes — are not legally required to hand over a printed price list. Ask for the fee schedule and the container policy in writing before you buy anything, because a cemetery that requires a liner will not waive it for a casket already sitting in your garage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a funeral home refuse the cardboard container I bought online?
No. The Funeral Rule bars a provider from conditioning its services on buying a casket from it, and bars any handling fee for a container you supply.
Is a concrete vault ever legally required?
Not by state law anywhere in the U.S., per the FTC. Cemeteries require one by contract to keep graves from sinking, and certified green cemeteries prohibit them outright.
Do I need a casket at all for a shroud burial?
Not at GBC-certified grounds, but hybrid-cemetery guidance requires a natural wood backer at least half an inch thick and the length of the body beneath the shroud.
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