Returning to nature in a literal sense, without leaving waste or pollutants behind. This is the choice of Carolyn, a seventy-year-old Australian who celebrated her funeral in Faulconbridge and was then buried in the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales. The woman is the first person in the country to have used a burial coffin made entirely from vegetal and fungal components, designed to decompose completely in just six weeks.
Dutch innovation: how the structure was born
The technology behind this ecological coffin bears the signature of Loop Biotech, a young company from the Netherlands led by thirty-two-year-old Bob Hendrikx. The production process exploits simple but revolutionary elements:
The materials: The mycelium — the root system of mushrooms — is mixed with hemp residues from agriculture.
Processing: The compound is inserted into special modules within monitored climate environments, taking approximately seven days to consolidate.
Dissolution: Once positioned in the ground, the structure integrates with the surrounding ecosystem in just 45 days, compared to the fifty years required on average by traditional wooden coffins.
As explained by the founder to the Sydney Morning Herald, the objective is to reverse the environmental impact of death: no longer contaminating the subsoil, but returning nutrients to it.
Less religion, more environmental awareness
The trend of “sustainable death” records constantly growing numbers. Grace Funerals operators confirm a significant increase in requests over the last five years.
According to cultural anthropology experts at the University of Melbourne, the phenomenon is intertwined with the progressive move away from traditional cults: for an increasingly larger segment of the population, the classic conception of the divine gives way to a vision focused on biological reintegration with the planet.
The pollution of funerals and the new alternatives
In a nation that has around 200 thousand deaths every year, the environmental issue linked to funerals is anything but marginal. Although 70% of Australians prefer cremation for economic reasons, this process generates a significant ecological footprint, releasing over a quintal of CO₂ for each service.