According to Euronews.green, six US states have legalized terramation, while in Europe, no country offers this option for now.

Officials should open the door to new options, however, as the cemeteries get full and there is a need for more environmentally-friendly solutions to replace cremation.

Frances Valdes, the president of Humusation France, a group that is campaigning for the legalization of human composting, said that "funerals are a real public health problem and a real pollution problem. But because it's a death issue, we're not going to talk about it. So we turn a blind eye. We stick our heads in the sand."

Experts say that cremation is very damaging to the environment, as incinerating a single person implies releasing around 245 kg of emissions, which is the same as if you were to charge your phone 29.000 times.

Burial has other problems beside just finding enough room for everyone, as the chemicals used in embalming can leak in the ground and even waterways, polluting the environment.

Body-composting, which is legal in six US states, among which are Washington, California and Oregon, is also known as natural organic reduction. The process is simple, a body, human or animal, is placed in an airtight compartment with a mixture of alfalfa and sawdust, which attract and maintain heat in a natural way, without the need of using polluting fossil fuels.

This way, the decomposition process is being naturally accelerated and after around 30-50 days, depending on the body-size, all there is left is teeth and bones. Since these don't decompose further, they are processed by special machines and mixed with the rest of the soil.

This mixture is left to stabilize for another 30 days or so and afterwards it is finally being given to the family of the deceased.

Using water to find eternal peace

Water cremation or aquamation is another option that is available in places like Ireland, where Elizabeth Oakes, the founder of Pure Reflections, uses water and some chemicals to decompose bodies in an eco-friendly way.

"We use water to bring the body back to its skeletal remains. So basically [an] alkaline solution and the water and the heat [takes] the flesh back to its chemical components, which is amino acids, peptides, sugars and salts", Elizabeth explained.

The bones are then processed and turned into a power which is put in an urn and sent back to the family, with the cost for the operation being 1.200 euros.

Aquamation is significantly more eco-friendly than fire-based cremation, as it uses five times less energy.

Frances Valdes believes that, while these processes are available and ready to be adopted by more states, people's mindset seems to be the setback when it comes to accepting them.

"There is a very conservative spirit in Europe. That's not the case in the Anglo-Saxon countries, notably the United States, Canada, etc. They are much more open to new processes."

"But in Europe, we are very suspicious, we like to do what has been done in the past, even if it is no longer appropriate", she concluded.