Mushroom Coffin and Ice Urn – Alternative Eco‑Friendly Ways of Burial
More and more of us switch to more environment-friendly ways of living; we segregate rubbish, give up plastic, save water and energy. That’s for the living ones. The scientists, to cater for the needs of everyone caring about nature, are also working on ecological ways of… burial.
Forest inspiration
It was mushrooms that inspired the eco-coffins. Dutch scientists working for the TU Delft University of Technology designed a coffin made of mushroom mycelium which was grown to serve this particular purpose. The whole process is not that complicated. The fungus spore are watered, fertilized with vegetable peels and sun-lit. within two weeks the mycelium grows enormously.
Bob Hendrikx, the botanist managing the works of the mushroom coffin team
When bodies become compost
The coffin is called Living Cocoon. It decomposes in soil within 2-3 years. This is much faster than standard coffins, which normally take 10 – 15 years to decompose. Interestingly, the body together with the mycelium makes compost – an ideal plant fertilizer. The mycelium coffin costs approximately $1,700
The porous texture of the coffin
Bob Hendrikx posing with one of the coffins
Ice burial
Another idea for a eco-friendly burial is an ice cinerary urn. It was developed by Diane Leclair Bisson, an American designer. Ice is 100% environmentally-safe material and it can be shaped in an endless number of ways. The woman developed a mold in which water with ashes is poured to be frozen afterwards. The upper part of the urn remains flat so that you can put there, for example, some flowers.
The flat surface of the urn
Ashes disappearing in water
The urn can be buried, thrown into the sea or you can simply let it go down the river. Such burial won’t harm either plants or people as human ashes are not toxic. The urn costs $895.
Letting the urn go down the river
See the urn floating
What do you think about such alternative coffins?
