The eco-friendly coffin!
We are constantly being urged to adopt green practices from cradle to the grave.
Well, now we can carry on even beyond that.
A Wigan coffin maker, which went back to the drawing board to make its products more environmentally friendly, has been shortlisted for a major award for its achievements.
Alan Roby has for the past 18 months been the "green champion" at Thorley Smith and the end product involves some very clever bits of joinery which solve a perennial problem without the need for plastics.
At the heart of his challenge was the ultra-sensitive issue of leakage prevention which used to be solved by materials such as pitch but latterly by a plastic lining. But both need industrial processes for their creation, thereby increasing the casket's carbon footprint.
What made the Clayton Street-based firm catch the eye of judges in the North West Business Environment Awards was a unique patented joint system which makes the coffin leak-proof on their own.
The shortlisted product also has other eco-friendly properties in that it is made from solid pine – which is renewable and grows quickly – from European accredited forest sources.
Click next page for more ...Solid wood is also preferable to cardboard or other processed materials because less energy is needed to create them. And burial rather than cremation is recommended to avoid CO2 emissions from the furnace.
There are a lot of naturally-grown coffin products to choose from these days: willow, bamboo, seagrass and even banana leaves, but all until now have needed sealants or linings.
Thorley Smith – which supplies to funeral directors, not direct to families of the deceased – seems to have made a major breakthrough, if its nomination for an environmental innovation and environmental procurement award is anything to go by.
Mr Roby said: "The advantage of solid wood coffins is the obvious one: it's the natural, traditional material. A tree is absorbing carbon from the atmosphere so, if trees are sustainably sourced, then that means a solid wood coffin becomes carbon-neutral.
"There is no overall increase in CO2 as a result of burning it. However, burial of solid wood, like pine, without any inclusion of plastic, is still the most environmentally-kind way of the two methods of disposal of human remains."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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