The funeral of the British soap actor Wendy Richard was notable not just for the number of soap stars among the mourners but the fact that her coffin was woven from bamboo.
Richard’s family chose an eco-friendly coffin because they did not want a tree to be chopped down, according to its manufacturer, Ecoffins.
Ecoffins ships its merchandise from China, but the company emphasises its environmental credentials: the bamboo is harvested from sustainable, licensed plantations and is not the species eaten by pandas — its Chinese factory is certified by Fairtrade. With smart packing, they claim the shipping of one coffin from China uses the same amount of fuel as driving a car 7.5km.
Ecoffins’ sales are up 30% year on year, reflecting a growing awareness that traditional coffins are an eco-disaster: if not made from hardwood they often contain chipboard, which can release glues and other pollutants, as well as metal handles, nuts, bolts and a plastic liner that will not easily degrade or burn.
But some eco-coffins — imported from Indonesia or Poland — may not be as green as they seem.
“These coffins are being marketed as sustainable but I really do question it,” says Jonathan Coate, whose family firm has been weaving baskets (and now sustainable coffins) from English willow since 1819.
Coate’s company grows its own willow within a mile of the workshop where the coffins are made by hand to order for more than R4 000 each — far cheaper than a R5 500 bamboo coffin or the almost R14 000 charged by most funeral directors for a willow coffin. Many of his 40-strong workforce have been weaving willow for 50 years. Willow is harvested every winter and quickly regrows; this traditional crop is part of the landscape of the ecologically valuable Somerset Levels in the west of England.
London-based funeral directors Green Endings offers reinforced cardboard coffins (just less than R3 000) and basic cardboard coffin “like a shoe box” inside a wooden case, which is reused. The ultimate eco-friendly coffin? No coffin at all, says director Jeremy Smith. “Some woodland burial sites are encouraging you to have the deceased securely wrapped in a shroud and buried in it.” —