Most truly concerned greenies agree that their coffin
should be British, even if this means that it is generally twice the price. Imported coffins bring with
them a high carbon footprint, no matter how this
may be ‘offset’ by the manufacturers or importers.
Then there is the consideration over the ‘Fair Trade’
element of the far flung producers and worries over
their employees’ working conditions.
green minded is that they are lined, up to the rim, with
non-degradable plastic, thus entombing most conventionally buried bodies to an eternity in a plastic
wrap. There are some that claim too that the level of
formaldehyde in their board is now insignificant and
that their chipboard is green and recycled – laudable
though this may be, it can be a distraction from the
rest of the coffin, its fixings, glues, lining and varnish.
RECYCLED - The recycled coffins include cardboard,
SOLID
papier-mâché and ones made from paper pulp board.
We like these, but note that the paper pulp ones are
not suitable for cremation as the china clay used in
paper manufacture is causing residue problems. They
are great for burial though and cardboard coffins are
hugely refined and improved since the early days.
MDF and CHIPBOARD - Then there are the MDF
and chipboard boxes. The manufacturing process of
these has been under toxic scrutiny for many years.
Unfortunately it is difficult for all other coffins to
compete economically against these as their trade
price is a fraction of most others and many funeral
director businesses like the healthy mark up (up to
1,000%!) they can sometimes cheekily charge on
these £50 coffins.
It is interesting to note that these coffins, with their
fake wood-effect exteriors, are the default coffin
used by the majority of funeral directors across
the whole industry. What is of most concern to the
WOOD - Solid wood coffins, once the
mainstay of the industry back in the day of local
craftsmen and available elm, have been mostly
replaced by foreign imports or at least coffins
produced from timber grown abroad. However there
are artisan suppliers, mainly working in soft pines, still
going or even starting up in the UK. There is even one
in Doncaster who is making coffins from reclaimed
window frames and pallets, saving this useable wood
from a different kind of burial.
SHROUDS - There are those for whom a coffin is
unnecessary, choosing either to swaddle their dead
in a favourite blanket or to purchase a purpose made
shroud, complete with integral carrying handles and
rigid framework. One of the shroud manufacturers
has recently created a charging board that allows
their shrouds to be used at the more flexible
crematoria.
image courtesy of www.bellacouche.com