If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

A Vancouver Island woman is hoping to breathe new life into burial sites by helping people answer that age-old question.

Cally Clarke’s company Treeborn.ca is selling a product called the Bios Urn, a biodegradable urn that promises to turn loved ones’ ashes into trees.

While a cemetery is what most people think of when it comes to laying loved ones to rest, Clarke says the urn is a more eco-friendly way to preserve their memory.

“It’s so much nicer, I think, to look out at a field full of trees than a field full of headstones,” she says.

The urn mixes human or pet ashes with soil, essentially turning them into a tree after life.

“The little seed goes in the top, the cremains go in the bottom, and within six-to-ten weeks it completely biodegrades,” she says. “By that time, the little new roots have reached the cremains and become a tree.”

Growing roots out of ashes isn’t only a sustainable and environmentally friendly option, Clarke says it’s also a way to bring someone back to life through nature.

“If your grandpa’s been sitting on the mantle shelf for the past 25 years, you can transfer his ashes or a portion of his ashes into this urns, and he can become a tree,” she says.

With the cost of a traditional burial in the thousands of dollars, many are turning to greener, more cost-efficient methods. Treeborn.ca offers a variety of seeds, including maple, pine, and you guessed it – ash.

Other companies, like Earth’s Option Cremation and Burial Services, offer a service called “green burials,” in which caskets are locally sourced and don’t contain harmful products.

“We have caskets created by local people that have no manmade products in it, such as metals, lacquers, paints,” said owner Chris Benesch.

Other options include wicker caskets, or being wrapped in a hemp shroud.

According to First Memorial Funeral Services in Nanaimo, there are roughly 1,200 deaths in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith region each year, and 95 per cent of people are cremated.

While some people who spoke to CTV News Monday said having their ashes planted with a tree isn’t for them, Clarke hopes the option rooted in rebirth will catch on. 

With a report from CTV Vancouver Island's Jessica Lepp