Green burials are soaring in popularity as more people opt for simplicity and complete the circle of life by returning to the earth.
Green funerals are environmentally friendly because they cut down the resources for a funeral – no irreplaceable hardwood trees have to be felled and transported thousands of miles.
The casket materials are biodegradable, cheap and have low carbon foot-prints. Environmentally friendly coffins are available in all sorts of recyclable materials like cardboard and papier mache. Many cardboard coffins are brightly colored or even futuristic pod- shapes (See below).
Basic cardboard coffins start from £85 plus delivery from many firms on the internet – just search Google for ‘eco funerals’ or green funeral’ for a list. All the coffins pictured to the right are reinforced cardboard that is weight-tested and overprinted with different designs.
Some enterprising firms also provide coffin covers – traditional wooden ‘outers’ that can have a cardboard coffin slipped inside for a religious service.
The coffin is then pulled out for burial or cremation, and the wooden outer cover is re-used again for subsequent funerals.
Wicked wickerwork
If wooden or cardboard coffins don’t hit the spot – another option is a woven natural casket.
Materials range from wicker, banana leaves, hyacinth leaves to jute and seagrass. The coffins cost between £400 – £550 depending on the material and the supplier. Natural material coffins are available to order online from many stockists.
Creative coffins
UK firm Vic Fearn Ltd are right out there with custom coffin designs.
The egg was for a woman who wanted a cremation in the foetal position. The egg was handcrafted from elm.
The skip was a for a builder who felt the most appropriate way to go was literally out with the rubbish. Other custom designs include guitars, ballet shoes and foot- ball boots.
Shrouded in mystery
The simplest funeral is wrapping the body in a burial shroud. Many styles and designs are available, from a plain white linen shroud to multicolored patterns. Shrouds are available mail order online.
The most common type of funeral for a shroud is a woodland burial or a green funeral. Contrary to what the picture shows, shrouded bodies are not left in the open, but buried in the earth. Often a tree is planted on the grave as a memorial instead of a headstone.
Urning Your Last Resting Place
Urns to hold your ashes after cremation are available in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors. The designs and options are almost endless – from biodegradable to one-off works of art.
Don’t forget you can always make your own container or use something that has sentimental value. As mentioned earlier in the book, ashes are sterile, so no health issues are involved.
If you want an unusual urn, Funky Funerals is a good place to start looking. Their prices start at $227 for biodegradable urns like those pictured below.
Lights out, camera, action!
Hollywood celebrity author Lynn Isenberg has started a new funeral event company on the back of her novel ‘The Funeral Planner’.
While researching the book, she realized there was a big market for staging life celebrations at funerals, so put together a team of professional directors, writers and actors to bring the deceased almost back-to-life for the mourners.
The team research and stage landmarks from the dead person’s life at a party after the funeral.
Her company Lights Out Enterprises presents live shows or makes short movies about the deceased.
True story – Two London sisters have kept their dead mother on ice at a funeral parlour for 10 years so they can pay weekend visits. Keeping their mother has cost the sisters £13,0000 in storage fees, £800 on make-up and £2,000 on five wooden cof- fins. Four have rotted over the years. The mother died aged 84 of an embolism in 1998.
