The Centre for Natural Burial

Eco-friendly bamboo coffins will soon be available

By STACEY WOOD - The Dominion Post

Wellington furniture maker Andrew Hubbard breathes new life into the business of death with personalised, eco-friendly coffins.

Tender-rest coffins are made from fast-growing bamboo and joined with low-toxicity PVA glue, making them a green option for burial or cremation, as well as being cleaner to manufacture.

Mr Hubbard says his initial motivation was to offer a modern, personal alternative to the traditional casket.

He was inspired by his father, who made a distinctive macrocarpa coffin intended for his own funeral.

When Mr Hubbard’s brother died, however, he was buried in the casket instead it gave his funeral a personal touch, and drew a lot of positive comments.

“The concept is to bring warmth and beauty to funerals, and I think sustainability should be a baseline,” Mr Hubbard says.

Moso bamboo grows to a harvestable size within five to eight years, compared to 25 years for pine and up to 120 years for some hardwoods.

Because of the wood’s high density, bamboo sheets are thin and light, making them greener to freight, efficient to burn, and flexible to work with. A pine plywood coffin costs $1500 and a bamboo model $1950, similar to the cost of standard MDF coffins.

Taking advantage of this flexibility, Mr Hubbard avoids the hard edges and box-like form of traditional coffins, in favour of curves and smooth lines.

“I wanted something that was natural and engaging … the traditional shape does have some Dracula connotations.”

With product development nearing completion, his caskets will soon be commercially available.

Between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of coffins bought in New Zealand are cremated.

Common veneer caskets go “straight up the chimney”, Mr Hubbard says, releasing high levels of dioxins.

A United Nations report has estimated 0.2 per cent of global carbon emissions are caused by cremation.

As people become more environmentally conscious, they are looking for a range of cleaner alternatives.

To offer greater choice, Mr Hubbard has begun making plain caskets from locally grown pine and imported bamboo.

“There is an interest in New Zealand-made and people have a resonance with a plain, unornamented pine casket, it’s seen as down-to-earth.” There is an increasing demand for unique caskets and Mr Hubbard says designs can be printed on the flat bamboo sheets before being moulded.

“It is really a question of identity, to reflect the person and find something that they click with.”

While Chinese bamboo grows faster and is therefore more sustainable, using local wood reduces emissions from freight.

Mr Hubbard says the difference in environmental terms between the bamboo and pine versions is negligible and they are both miles ahead of traditional coffins.

He is hoping to establish a partnership with natural burial cemeteries, where bodies are buried close to the surface in untreated caskets.

BAMBOO’S MANY USES

Moso is a woody variety of bamboo which is grown for commercial use in large managed forests in China.

Pandas prefer to eat smaller, bushier species, so the harvesting of moso bamboo poses no danger to them.

The bamboo of today can grow about 15 centimetres a day, but that’s nothing compared to prehistoric species - they could grow up to five metres a day.

While some varieties make strong, flexible timber, others are used for culinary, medicinal and ornamental purposes.

Be careful planting bamboo in gardens its roots spread far under the ground before sending up shoots, making it almost impossible to eradicate.

GOING NATURAL

The first natural cemetery in New Zealand was officially opened at Makara in June last year.

In a natural burial, the body is placed in a biodegradable casket without being embalmed.

Buried just a metre below the surface, it breaks down within a few years.

Native trees will grow from each grave, hopefully creating a forest.

Only about two thirds of each natural cemetery is reserved for plots.

Natural cemeteries can be full ecological projects, complete with solar lighting, water catchment and energy-efficient buildings.