Man buried upright at green cemetery

MELBOURNE - An Australian man, who lost his battle with cancer last week, was buried upright in a biodegradable shroud at a cemetery, claimed to be the country’s greenest.

Allan Heywood was buried Monday, as per his dying wish, in the unusual, space-saving grave in the new vertical cemetery in western Victoria, the Herald Sun reported Tuesday.

Heywood, 64, paid $2,750 — about half the cost of a basic conventional burial — to be buried upright in the biodegradable bag.

Heywood spoke to the newspaper in recent months about his unique funeral choice, not seen since a few Chinese were buried in a similar way in Queensland more than a century ago.

“It’s nice to be first at something. Everybody wants their little place in history,” Heywood had said. “I’ve attended a lot of funerals over the years and I’ve never attended one that I’ve enjoyed … I’m an atheist as well.”

Upright Burials managing director Tony Dupleix said Heywood’s family, as agreed with him, was not present at the burial that was attended by eight cemetery and burial service officials.

He said the vertical burial process was simple and environment friendly.

“We don’t arrange memorial services or allow for graveside services or order flowers, or cars, but what we do offer is a simple respectful burial where people aren’t challenged to choose between levels of guilt and love in selecting expensive coffins,” Dupleix said.