Our Certification Process: Looking to the Future

Prepared by the Green Burial Council's board of directors for distribution on 3/22/22.

​The Green Burial Council's mission is to inspire and advocate for environmentally sustainable, natural death care through education and certification. We aim to hold our product providers to the highest standards and expect them to treat all descendants with respect, and engender trust between members of the deathcare community.

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The Tree of Life Ovum Fungi met enough of our Burial Container Standards Evaluation criteria to pass with a 2 of 3 Leaf rating. This certification looks at the materials and methods used to produce a product and evaluates to what degree they were harvested sustainably, will biodegrade anaerobically, are non-toxic to fabricators and nature, and impact the warming of our planet.

That being said, the messaging around this product has made additional claims as to how the product works and should be used that were not approved by The Green Burial Council, and are not consistent with our mission. We have requested information to support the claims around the impact of living mycelium and suspended our certification for the Ovum Fungi until further review. 

We also recognize that our product certification process can be improved to ensure that all providers align with our mission and represent the mission and values of the GBC. We have convened a standards committee to review our processes and will be creating a scientific advisory panel to ensure the best standards and practices are used during certifications. It’s an exciting time in the death industry, as new disposition methods and burial containers are becoming available. It is with the best intention that we must create new methods of how we can review these products ethically and effectively, if at all. Thank you for your patience as we challenge our own review processes.