{"id":883118,"date":"2026-09-07T10:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/883118\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T10:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:08:19","slug":"woman-laid-to-rest-in-coffin-made-from-mushrooms-in-australian-first-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/883118\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman laid to rest in coffin made from mushrooms in Australian first | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman has been buried in a coffin made from mushrooms in New South Wales<\/a> in an eco-friendly first for Australia.<\/p>\n

Carolyn, whose surname was withheld for privacy reasons, was laid to rest on Friday by friends and family at Springwood Cemetery in the Blue Mountains. She was aged in her 70s.<\/p>\n

The mushroom coffin, created by the Dutch firm Loop Biotech, was grown from mycelium \u2013 the root network of fungi \u2013 and hemp fibres.<\/p>\n

The coffin is grown in mould in a climate-controlled room, taking just a week to fully form. Once buried, it takes about 45 days to become part of the soil.<\/p>\n

The process is akin to composting, as the body and coffin gently biodegrade and transform into nutrient-rich soil in far less time than a traditional wooden casket, which can take up to 50 years to break down.<\/p>\n

The biodegradable coffins weigh about 30kg. Photograph: Loop Biotech<\/p>\n

Carolyn\u2019s husband, Donald, said picking the mushroom coffin aligned with his wife\u2019s values of giving back.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was always there to help others. It feels very true to who she was that even after her death, she can still do something for others while giving something back to nature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While Carolyn is the first to be buried in the coffin in Australia, Loop Biotech\u2019s founder Bob Hendrikx said there had been thousands of others across Europe and the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive years ago when I started, there was lots of interest from Australia,\u201d Hendrikx said. \u201cIt was a little bit harder to ship overseas [at the time].\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendrikx hopes the mushroom coffins, which weigh about 30kg each, could improve the sustainability of the Australian funeral sector by shortening the decomposition process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about giving back to nature: we have the mushroom, which is grown and dissolves into nature, but the actual benefit is that \u2026 it\u2019s enriching the soil,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe body needs to just return to nature and let nature do what it\u2019s done best forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a kangaroo dies in the forest, it\u2019s just going to be part of the cycle of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s enriching the soil\u2019: Loop Biotech founder Bob Hendrikx in Sydney. Photograph: Loop Biotech<\/p>\n

Dr Hannah Gould, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Melbourne, believes people are becoming increasingly interested in environmentally friendly farewells<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs people perhaps become less religious, other kinds of values or community groupings become more important, and one of those that we\u2019ve seen is eco-death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis idea that perhaps that you don\u2019t go up to heaven after you die, you return to the earth, has been an increasingly popular narrative around death and dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

While about 70% of Australians choose to be cremated, it has a substantial environmental impact: the emissions from a typical cremation are estimated to be equivalent to 125kg of carbon dioxide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Loop Biotech\u2019s mushroom coffin can be lined with moss. Photograph: Loop Biotech<\/p>\n

In recent years options such as alkaline hydrolysis<\/a> (a cremation-like process that uses water instead of fire), natural burials without embalming, and even shallow burials have become available. A natural burial uses a cardboard coffin with rope handles and will emit less than 10kg of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to PlanetMark analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gould believes that as Australians are living longer and more people are dying from prolonged illnesses, more time is being spent thinking about how to depart and farewell loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve maybe seen or organised a funeral for their parents and it hasn\u2019t gone so well,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re now deciding that they want to do things differently. So we\u2019re seeing a huge rise in funeral planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was amended on 7 September 2026 to correct the name of Carolyn\u2019s husband, Donald.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman has been buried in a coffin made from mushrooms in New South Wales in an eco-friendly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-883118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}