Dutch inventor Bob Hendrix is harnessing the power of fungi by using mycelium – giant webs of fungal threads that usually live underground – as an alternative to traditional wooden coffins. Their eco-friendly “living coffin,” he says, is not only carbon negative to grow, but also decomposes in six weeks instead of 20 years for a regular wooden coffin. The coffin also gets the job of decomposing the body, accelerating the process by which nature can absorb the deceased’s nutrients.
Hendrix’s company Loop isn’t the first to associate itself with eco-hears. Cremated human remains can be placed in pods to grow trees or dumped into artificial coral reefs, while coffins made of wicker, macrame and cardboard are all on the market. Woodland burials, where coffins and clothing are made from all-natural materials, are also experiencing a revival. And when actor Luke Perry died in 2019, he was buried in a “mushroom suit” designed to help decompose his body. But there is a new way to use the mycelium to lock the body in a “living coffin.”
Cremation has its issues, releasing significant amounts of carbon and possibly heavy metals into the atmosphere when present in the body (the US Environmental Protection Agency has calculated that approximately 2 tons of mercury, found in dental fillings, were carried by human cremation in 2014). was emitted).
Hendrix says, “What really frustrates me is that when I die, I’m polluting the earth. I’m worthless.” He describes the body as a “moving litter of 219 chemicals,” even before factoring in the metals, wood, and glue commonly used in coffins.
“Our current burial processes lead to material depletion, soil pollution and CO2 emissions,” he says. “We have created a super-industrial process leading to one of the most natural processes on Earth.”
But given the right treatment, the body becomes “a beautiful bag of manure.” Mushrooms, Hendrix says, “are known to be the world’s largest recyclers,” turning dead organic matter into new plant life. “Why aren’t we using it?”
Loop’s “living cocoon” consists of lab-grown mycelium, woodchips and secret ingredients, which are placed in a mold and grown into a coffin shape over the course of a week. Once complete, the moss – full of microorganisms – is packed into the bottom, on which the body is placed. Once the structure comes into contact with moist soil the mycelium comes to life and the process begins.
The Delft-made coffin is on sale for €1,495 ($1,700). Joerg Vieweg, owner of Funeral Home in Germany, is one of Hendrix’s clients. Vieweg says that the mycelium coffin is “a fine example of something ecologically achieved with little change in farewell tradition.”
“(It) does not fundamentally change the process and traditions (of preparing a body for burial),” he says, which makes burial in a mycelium coffin more socially acceptable.
Hendrix says that so far around 100 funerals with living cocoons have been performed in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. He says the laws in some European countries are more conducive to coffins than others. “It’s a super-conservative market,” he says, “as it has ever been.”
“The challenge right now is how can we convince families to organize a permanent funeral?” she adds. “Consumers don’t know about[sustainable funeral options]because the problem is, how often do you organize funerals? Only once or twice in your life are you responsible.”
Van Hausert says funeral companies in the Netherlands are now training their employees to discuss climate-neutral options with bereaved families, and she hopes to introduce new legislative guidelines for alternative funerals.
While she currently describes Loop’s product as a “niche,” she estimates that “within five years[people]will be asking for more of these types of coffees.”
Hendrix believes he has found a positive solution, and as the Loop seeks to expand, it aims to locally make coffins using samples of the fungus for its final destination to ensure that they have optimum environmental impact. “Instead of doing a bad thing, or a less bad deed (after death), you can do something really good,” he says, making the case for his invention.
ViewEgg believes the funeral industry is “facing a tremendous change of paradigm.”
“People are creative and looking for sustainable solutions to protect our environment,” she says. “The rituals that have taken place so far will also live on and new ones will grow. It is exciting and challenging to experience this process.”
,