When Sydney woman Carolyn died, her family were looking for a way to bury her that reflected her life.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the 70-year-old became the first person in Australia to be buried in a coffin made from mycelium \u2013 the underground root network of mushrooms.<\/p>\n
It means that after burial, the coffin’s material becomes part of the earth, nourishing the soil around it.<\/p>\n
“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,” her husband Donald said.<\/p>\n
A coffin grown in a lab<\/p>\n
The coffin, also made of upcycled hemp fibres, was grown in a lab in the Netherlands by the company Loop Biotech.<\/p>\n
Founder and inventor Bob Hendrixx said the coffins took seven days to grow, and about 45 days after burial to be absorbed by the soil.<\/p>\n
He said he came up with the idea as part of a university project.<\/p>\n
“Five years ago, this existed only as an idea at Delft University of Technology,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Being here in Sydney and seeing the first Australian family choose it is incredibly special.”<\/p>\n
Carolyn’s burial is part of a growing trend of people seeking more environmentally friendly ways of being laid to rest after they die.<\/p>\n
Human composting<\/p>\n
Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich introduced a bill in June that would pave the way for human composting in NSW.<\/p>\n
The process places a body in a vessel with organic materials such as wood chips and straw.<\/p>\n
Over several weeks, microbes break down the remains into organic material that can be used in reforestation, soil regeneration or memorial plantings.<\/p>\n
Carolyn’s funeral director Asha Dooley of Grace Funerals said an increasing number of families were looking for more sustainable burial options.<\/p>\n
“Five years ago, very few families were asking these questions,” she said.<\/p>\n
‘Almost whimsical’<\/p>\n
“Today we’re regularly speaking with people who want a farewell that reflects how someone lived their life.<\/p>\n
“We believe this is the beginning of an important shift in the Australian funeral profession.”<\/p>\n
Carolyn’s long-time friend Christine said it was “almost whimsical” seeing her resting on a bed of moss.<\/p>\n
“It felt like she was already becoming part of the earth,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Sydney woman Carolyn died, her family were looking for a way to bury her that reflected her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[85,138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-592692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}