After several months of testing, the first funeral was held in the Netherlands using a rapidly composting "living coffin" made from mycelium, a Mat of fibers that forms the underground part of fungi.
"I didn't actually go there, but I spoke to a relative beforehand – it was a touching moment, we discussed the cycle of life," Bob Hendricks, founder of the Loop startup, which produces a living cocoon, told the Metro newspaper.
"He lost his mother, but he was happy, because thanks to this box, she will return to nature and will soon live like a tree. It was an encouraging conversation.”
Hendricks, a 26-year-old biodesigner who studied at Delft University of Technology, told local media that the living cocoon allowed “people to become one with nature again. We can enrich the soil, not pollute it.”
The mycelium is the "recovery of nature," said Hendricks. Not only does it neutralize toxins and provide fresh food for everything that grows above ground, but its fibers can be used to make anything from food to clothing to packaging, including coffins.
"Mycelium is constantly looking for waste-oil, plastic, metals, other pollutants – and turning them into nutrients for the environment,” he said. "This coffin means that we really feed the earth with our bodies. We are nutrients, not waste.”
Hendricks said the process by which the human body in a traditional coffin is turned into compost can often take a decade or more, slowed down by the coffin's lacquered wood and metals and synthetic clothing, which can take even longer to decompose.
The mycelium coffin will be absorbed back into the soil within a month or six weeks, he said, actively contributing to the complete decomposition of the body it contains and enriching the quality of the surrounding soil – all within two to three years.
The loop works with scientists to measure the impact of human bodies on soil quality, with the goal, according to Hendricks, of " persuading policy makers to turn polluted areas into healthy forests – with our bodies as nutrients.”
Working in collaboration with two funeral cooperatives in the Hague, the startup produced 10 coffins worth about 1,250 euros (1,150 pounds) each. He expects the price to drop significantly as production intensifies and, as Hendricks hopes, mycelium boxes will become the " new normal."
Each living cocoon takes several weeks to form, as the mycelial Mat grows in the shape of a coffin, and then it is allowed to dry naturally. As soon as it is exposed to wet soil again, it comes back to life and begins the process of decomposition.
Edited by Max265389 - 13 December 2020 at 6:28pm
The first funeral was held using a’ live coffin '
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