nothing illegal about just getting dropped in a hole as-is on private property most places
That’s not true for good reason- people who don’t know what they’re doing could contaminate groundwater/runoff very easily.
It shouldn’t be as expensive as it is, and I’d support dropping unembalmed corpses without certain diseases (an asymptomatic or undiagnosed prion disease could be incredibly dangerous) in a hole, as long as they are adequately buried. That would require an autopsy and either significant refrigeration costs or a rushed job without embalming though.



This is the relevant section from the wiki:
From your link:
I’d be interested in how widespread the legality is practically, because (reasonably) everything I looked at said to check local laws, but I can understand why that’s not included exhaustively. My family tried to in a rural area of a non rural state where the sources say it’s allowed, but the setbacks made it practically impossible- watershed areas are larger than you would expect, even without visible bodies of water nearby.