Biodegradable Coffins
By APRIL DEMBOSKY, New York Times
This July, when Jorgi Wu was laid to rest in central California, she became the first American to be buried in an Ecopod — a 100 percent biodegradable coffin made of recycled paper. The seedpod-shaped coffin is designed to be planted in the ground, dissolve and replenish the earth with its nutrient-rich contents. Who needs embalming, cement vaults or herbicide-based lawn care?
Interest in “green” burials has been increasing in recent years, and the Ecopod is one of the first coffins to fit the environmentally conscious consumer niche. Originally developed in England, it is sold in the United States by the Portland-based Natural Burial Company. Visitors to the company’s showroom will soon be able to see a variety of other biodegradable coffins made of paper, formaldehyde-free plywood, fair-trade-certified bamboo and hand-woven Somerset willow.
These coffins are the antithesis of the funeral industry’s usual rain-forest mahogany and steel caskets, which are held together by formaldehyde-infused glue and hermetically sealed to keep nature out. According to Cynthia Beal, the founder of the Natural Burial Company, this preservation process has turned modern cemeteries into “parking lots” for the dead. She says she hopes her products will push the trend toward natural burial parks — currently there are just a handful in the country.
While the Ecopod triumphs in simplicity, it does not skimp on style. It is available in multiple colors — and can be silk-screened with doves, Aztec suns or other designs, and lined with cream or blue feathers, so that customers can choose the Ecopod that best reflects their personalities. Wu chose the forest green model — with a Celtic cross on top.
Well, I’m not really sure that “green” burials are a new phenomenon. I reckon that for centuries we did “plant ‘em and forget ‘em” in Western culture. Then came Christianity and concern for the mortal soul. At best, we do find monuments galore in remembrance of the renown, but for us lesser mortals—-not so much. I certainly prefer the passage to go sans chemicals pumped in my body and my entrails, etc. removed to make me “look like I’m only sleeping”. I would like to go with the original parts with which I arrived. Cremation seemed the only choice for me, but planting me in a cardboard container and returning to the earth naturally appeals to me—just no planting someone on top of me 20-30 years later. I won’t rest eternally in a condo or apartment!