Inhabitat » CARDBOARD ECO-COFFINS BIG IN HONG KONG

March 14, 2007

CARDBOARD ECO-COFFINS BIG IN HONG KONG

by Tylene Levesque

Eco Coffins, LifeArt Personalized Eco Coffins, custom designed cardboard eco coffins

With limited burial space available, Hong Kong officials have begun heavily promoting eco-coffins made of corrugated cardboard. Available in Japan and across Europe, eco-coffins save time and energy, and considerably reducing toxic gas emissions during the cremation process. As Carrie Yau, Hong Kong’s Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food stated, “The eco-coffin coincides with the Asian philosophy of integration between man and nature. We will further study the material and design of the coffin and promote the application of the eco-coffin in Hong Kong to bring out the concept of paying tribute to the deceased through protecting the environment.”

Australian maker LifeArt offers a range of designs including the option to personalize and even customize your own design. Eco Coffins Ltd of Cambridge, England, offer a number of beautiful designs—all of which are 100% biodegradable and made from 90% recycled materials.

+ Eco Coffins

Eco Coffins, LifeArt Personalized Eco Coffins, custom designed cardboard eco coffins

16 Responses to “CARDBOARD ECO-COFFINS BIG IN HONG KONG”

jorg Says:

March 14th, 2007 at 6:01 pm

Excellent idea.

Now if we can add some CORPORATE logos to it, we’ll have a real commercial winner.

Ramsey Says:

March 14th, 2007 at 6:28 pm

Brilliant. Better that than to fill a cemetery for a few hundred years. I want them to fertilize an apple tree with me.

Brian Jewett Says:

March 15th, 2007 at 8:54 am

Wow! That maple leaf coffin has given me a great idea for a parade float at our towns anual Fall Foliage Parade. “Global warming and the death of maple sugaring in New England”! Ooohh the mayor’s not gonna like this one! ;-)

turtlebella Says:

March 15th, 2007 at 11:00 am

Great idea…just recently learned about all the environmental problems associated with funerals (I didn’t know that people are routinely embalmed even before cremation! How weird is that). Anyway- these coffins are quite beautiful! I kind of want one as a decorative piece in my house but that’s a bit morbid, huh?

I think your idea for a parade float, Brian, is BRILLIANT.

nick Says:

March 15th, 2007 at 11:14 am

the eco design is great…the artistic design is less than par

Nick Simpson Says:

March 15th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

Apparently the idea of you surviving for decades in a coffin made of wood is rubbish - most rot down pretty quickly unless it’s lead lined or something along those lines. How lovely…

jessie Says:

March 15th, 2007 at 4:03 pm

i think i want to be put in a hole out in the woods when i die, so the worms can eat me.

Julie Says:

March 16th, 2007 at 1:41 am

My father,72 years, has always said he’d like to burried in the traditional pine box….sometimes hard to find.Burial furnishings have become too lavish and, for someone who has lived his life simply, over ubundant.I’m sure this will suit him and me…a real back to the earth from whence we came. Go one step further…produce the from recycled products …hmmm

At Home with kim vallee Says:

March 19th, 2007 at 4:41 pm

I agree with Nick, the creative is not impressive. I check on the UK site and they can do a custom design. It cost $3500 CAD to get one with the picture you want. I think it is too much money for a cardboard coffin. Their regular creative models, shown above, cost about $1100 CAD, which is cheap for a coffin. Personally, I want to be buried in a cool design urn.

andrew k from az Says:

March 20th, 2007 at 2:40 pm

I wanna know whether or not these things are legal in the US. If they are, I say who cares about the design, it’s going to be buried anyway.

Kim Says:

March 23rd, 2007 at 9:27 am

Love the cardboard idea for those who want to be buried. Me, I’m donating my body to research/hospital/organ donations, they can burn what’;s left, I won’t be needing it.

People forget about skin donations– our largest organ and there is always a shortage in burn units –sometimes they have to do two grafts, first out of pigskin (really) until they can find enough skin donors. The burn victims have already been through enoug without needing extra surgeries, consider becoming an organ donor and you’ll really be recycling!

sophie in az Says:

April 19th, 2007 at 10:47 am

I completely agree with Kim about donating your body, although I don’t want my body to end up in “bodyworlds” or anything related to organ traffiking…how does one avoid that? Hopefully everyone signs their organ donor card!

I also think these coffins are amazing, I’ve always told my parents to just chuck me in the compost bin, but if these were re-used cardboard pieces, then i’d be keen on having my leftover bits put in there and burried. But why would you need the design, how eco is it to use paint a coffin? Au naturel would be the way for me to ‘go’.

Jan Willem Says:

December 28th, 2007 at 2:57 pm

The big (or small) question is what does it cost? At $10-$15 dollars it’s worth it. At $1100 CAD what are people thinking? Cardboard also does not retain body fluids properly, especially when in use for a week. There are two solutions, fill a body with toxic embalming fluid. Or seal the coffin with a plastic inner coffin. Currently I am studying nutrient flows of all toxic fluids and it seems as if it is better to hold the body fluids until the body is fully decomposed. Otherwise local ground water can be harmed. This is only an issue with larger densely populated cemeteries.