Pagans and Witches in FL have more burial options other than traditional internment and cremation. Here are a variety of options you have in Florida.
Burial at sea is legal in Florida. The EPA has authorized burial of human remains at sea, including full-body burials and release of cremated remains. Placement of human remains will be more than 3 nautical miles from shore—closer than that is not allowed. Pets and any non decomposable materials are also not allowed. You may use your own boat or a boat that you are authorized to use. Additionally, many charter boat operators offer services for burial at sea. Some operators specialize in performing burials at sea. If the deceased is a military veteran or their spouse, you may also be able to make arrangements through the U.S. Navy or U.S. Coast Guard. No permit is required but you must notify the EPA within 30 days if you perform a burial at sea.
https://www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping/burial-sea
Here is a private company with boats in Ft. Lauderdale that will take a specially designed coffin (it sinks) out to sea for you: http://www.ftlauderdaleburialatsea.com/full-body-burial-at-sea.html
Green burial is legal in Florida. A green burial is a natural burial where no chemicals, steel caskets, or concrete burial vaults are used. There is minimum intervention, and the body is simply wrapped in a biodegradable shroud or container and buried in an earth grave plot. It is both less harmful to the environment than a traditional burial and less expensive. There is no legal requirement to employ a funeral director—you can apply to your county for a death certificate and burial permit, conduct a funeral at home by keeping the deceased on dry ice (permitted for 24 hours), and arrange for your own transportation of the body to the green burial site.
Any completely biodegradable container can be used. However, certain cemeteries may have guidelines or restrictions on what will be accepted as a green burial container. Common green burial products are wicker or bamboo woven fiber caskets that resemble a basket type of casket. Simple wood caskets can be used with no metal nails or handles. To be truly sustainable, no toxic glue or varnish should be used in the production of a wood casket. Cardboard containers are also widely used.
Green burial sites are categorized into 3 categories: Hybrid (H) – a standard cemetery that has adopted a section as a designated green burial area, Natural Burial Ground (NB) – a designated green burial cemetery. And Conservation Burial Ground (CBG) – a designated and protected wildlife conservation area where green burial is conducted to preserve (and restore) the natural habitat. Hybrid cemeteries are far more common. At this time there are six green burial sites in Florida! See a list here: https://www.us-funerals.com/green-burial-directory/
Water cremation or aquamation (also known as “alkaline hydrolysis,” “flameless cremation,” and many other terms) is legal in Florida. Water cremation is a chemical process that reduces a body to components of liquid and bone. It’s considered a greener alternative to cremation because it uses less energy than cremation and doesn’t release matter into the atmosphere. In 2011, the Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home in St. Petersburg, Florida, became the first organization in the United States to offer water cremation—they called it “flameless cremation”—to funeral consumers. If you’re interested in this option for yourself, you might want to explore pre-planning your final arrangements. Water cremation tends to cost around $1000 more than traditional cremation. Learn more here: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/burial-cremation-laws-florida.html
Eternal reefs are an option in Florida. An Eternal Reef is a designed reef made of environmentally-safe cast concrete and human cremated remains placed on the ocean floor as a permanent memorial of a life. Families and friends are invited and encouraged to participate in the creation of their loved one’s memorial reef as much as they wish. From placing hand prints and memorabilia in the damp concrete during the casting, making a rubbing of the bronze plaque during the viewing ceremony, placing a flag on your loved one’s memorial reef during military honors, or boating to the placement site to watch the Eternal Reef be deployed to its final ocean rest, all activities at an Eternal Reefs project are designed to be a positive experience and provide peace of mind for everyone involved. Learn more here: https://www.eternalreefs.com/eternal-reefs-donation-levels/
General Information:
In Florida, embalming isn’t required. But if final disposition doesn’t occur within 24 hours, a body must be either embalmed or refrigerated. Fla. Stat. § 497.386
No law requires a casket for burial. However, you should check with the cemetery; it might have rules requiring a certain type of container.
No law requires a casket for cremation. On the contrary, federal law requires a funeral home or crematory to inform you that you may use an alternative container and to make such containers available to you. An alternative container may be made of unfinished wood, pressed wood, fiberboard, or cardboard.
Federal law requires funeral homes to accept caskets that consumers have purchased from another source, such as an online retailer. You may also build your own casket if you prefer.
There are no state laws in Florida that prohibit burial on private property. According to the Florida Division of Funeral, Cemetery & Consumer Services, Florida allows families to establish cemeteries that are less than two acres large, so long as burial spaces or burial rights aren’t offered for sale. Fla. Stat. § 497.260. Before burying a body on private land or establishing a family cemetery, you should also check county and city zoning ordinances. Some might not permit home burials, while others might impose additional restrictions, such as permits or the presence of a licensed funeral director. You might also want to consider the future sale of the property, as purchasers might be leery of buying property where human remains have been buried.
In Florida, there are no state laws that restrict where you may keep or scatter ashes.
Terramation, also known as human composting, is not legal in Florida right now. However, it could be legalized in the future. Track the legislative process as terramation becomes a legal option in various states here: https://earthfuneral.com/resources/tracker-where-human-composting-legal/