This Guy Created A $1,750 Mushroom Coffin That Turns Your Body Into Compost In Less Than 3 Years
InterviewThere’s a saying that we are but mere guests on this planet. So, we ought to treat it with love and respect just like we would any other home. And just like it applies to our lifetimes, so it should apply in the afterlife.
Loop, a startup based in Delft, the Netherlands, has come out with a solution to an eco-friendly afterlife with its Loop Living Cocoon coffin made from wood chips and mycelium that quicken the process of decomposition and help nature acquire vital nutrients more effectively.
Dutch researcher Bob Hendrikx designed an eco-friendly coffin made out of mushroom fiber—mycelium
Image credits: Loop
So, Delft University of Technology Researcher Bob Hendrikx, with whom Bored Panda got in touch, has designed what he calls a living coffin that is made from mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus or fungus-like bacterial colony.
The aim of the living coffin is to compost our peaceful bodies more efficiently and in a way that removes the toxic substances that we may have piled up inside over the span of our lifetimes to produce richer conditions for flora to grow in the place of our eternal rest.
The coffin quickens the process of decomposing the body and turns it into compost for the earth
Image credits: Loop
The inspiration for this came when Hendrikx was presenting a living home concept during Dutch Design Week 2019. He soon ended up adapting the concept to a coffin based on mycelium.
“Normally, what we do as humans is we take something out of nature, we kill it, and we use it. So I thought: what if we humans start moving from working with dead materials toward a world in which we work with living materials? We would not only become less of a parasite, but we could also start exploring super-cool material properties, like living lights, walls that are self-healing, and that kind of stuff,” elaborated Hendrikx.
He got the inspiration for it after presenting a ‘living home’ concept during Dutch Design Week 2019
Image credits: Loop
The coffin is made from mycelium and wood chips, the inside has a moss bed brimming with microorganisms
Image credits: Loop
The coffin includes a moss bed, plant roots, and a number of living microorganisms with a wood-chip and mycelium serving as the materials for the coffin’s exterior walls.
Usually, it takes up to 12 years for the body to fully decompose depending on various conditions. Besides whatever junk we ate that got stuck in our bodies, things like varnished and metal coffin parts as well as synthetic clothing can stay underground for much longer periods of time.
The mycelium, however, can bring it down to just 2 to 3 years because of its active contribution to the composting process. It’s not just the waste products from the human body that are converted into nutrients, but the quality of the surrounding soil is also improved.
Mycelium is known as the world’s biggest recycler that breaks down organic matter and pollutants into nutrients
Image credits: Loop
So, not only does it make the process faster, but also ensures a positive impact on the soil
Image credits: Loop
The living coffin underwent extensive testing, including collaborations with funeral cooperatives CUVO and De Laatste Eer. Further practical tests done by Ecovative, a biomaterials company, showed that the coffin is actually absorbed within 30 to 45 days under regular conditions in the Netherlands.
The company is currently working on identifying the full scope of the contribution that the body and the coffin makes to the soil as it will help convince local authorities to transform relatively polluted areas into healthy natural landscapes.
Image credits: Loop
The coffin itself dissolves within 30–45 days and cuts the body’s decomposition process from 12 to under 3 years
Image credits: Loop
“The biggest challenge is getting the living product in the shops since this is a product that is often sold B2B2C—normal people don’t really order a coffin from a webshop yet,” elaborated Hendrikx. “So, there might be a disruptive edge to create a new supply chain.”
Besides the positive ecological aspects, living caskets may also help mitigate the problem of overcrowding in cemeteries. The faster decomposition process would mean that the same grave may become available faster for family members and the like.
This is said to be the world’s first ‘living coffin’ and has already been used for a funeral in the Netherlands
Image credits: Loop
Image credits: Loop
According to Loop’s website, it is the world’s first living coffin “created by nature,” and it was also recently used in what is now the first funeral held using living coffins. The funeral was of a man’s mother in the Netherlands. He was happy to know that his mother will soon be living as one with nature.
The coffin is said to cost around €1,500 (approx. 1,750 US dollars) and the price is expected to fall as production intensifies and, hopefully, mycelium-based caskets become the new norm in burials.
The coffin costs around €1,500 (approx. 1,750 US dollars), but the price may drop with time
Image credits: Loop
Check out the video for Loop’s living coffin below
Image credits: Loop
We’ve also asked Hendrikx if there are plans to develop other related products based on mycelium, to which he replied: “We are definitely looking at animal coffins and shrouds. And also elements to be placed into graves.”
You can learn more on Loop’s website and Instagram as well as Hendrikx’ Instagram account. But before you go, let us know your thoughts on this. Would you want to be buried in a living coffin, or do you prefer alternative methods like cremation? Let us know in the comment section below!
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Share on FacebookVery eco friendly. I dont know if this is just me but i feel like i have been seeing creativity in coffin design.
Agreed. The price of burial in the US is staggering.
Load More Replies...My mom has a compost bin and whatever leftover turns into dirt or whatever. Imagine your dirt being somebody's decomposed body. (I don't think I'm using proper grammar or whatever)
I think that's an awesome idea! I would love for my body to have a positive effect after I'm finished with it.
Load More Replies...I am a mortician, teacher, and environmentalist. I volunteer with the Green Burial Council to educate folks (especially the funeral industry) on ecological funeral services.The soil is a galaxy of living organisms and it's purpose is to break down organic matter and turn it into "vital nutrients." To say "usually, it takes up to 12 years for the body to fully decompose" and that this "can bring it down to just 2 to 3 years" is misleading. An unembalmed body, buried with 2-3 ft of soil on top of it (the minimum required in most US states), and not in a "sealing" container (no casket or vault; maybe instead a shroud or simple pine box) can fully decompose in a month in the right circumstances. However, there is no exact science to this because of the complexity of factors involved. Though products like these help consumers reimagine how we relate to the environment at death, we don't need them for "nature [to] acquire vital nutrients more effectively." It's effective in it's own right.
"... and not in a sealing container...." that's exactly the problem!! Where would be the funeral industry without sealing containers?
Load More Replies...Caitlyn Doughty (who has an *awesome* youtube channel called "Ask a Mortician") would love this! I know I've been mentioning her a couple of times here but she's just that good.
Actually, I suspect she'd say this coffin is unnecessary, a $5 cotton shroud is perfectly sufficient.
Load More Replies...People need to get over the idea that a coffin is needed. It’s a gimmick.
I think that people would; it's the funeral industry, they even make you feel guilty if you want to buy a less expensive coffin.
Load More Replies...This is so much better than cremation, which is a process that is not environmentally friendly at all. I just wonder if using such coffins can be legalized everywhere. In the USA, even being buried in a plain pine box comes with the requirement of a cement "cap" over the top and sides of the coffin.
I can see potential for abuse here. What if somebody used my composted remains to grow broccoli. Or even worse cilantro.
I would feel honored.. but only for the broccoli - cilantro is pretty awful.
Load More Replies...I want this. Someday (many, many , many years from now) put my body in here.
I'd be for this if not for the reality that the bodies being composted unless under guard 24/7 would become targets for people who want to desecrate corpses.
It use to be wooden coffins. I don't know who came up with the idea of metal coffins with the velvet-cushion interiors, where the corpse turns into a ugly smelling liquid; probably those who do not like the idea of turning into a plant fertilizer. Humans think of themselves to be such a fine, unique species.... well, at the end it does not matter, you are just like any other creature.
Naah, the idea with "burial forrest" and being buried under some tree was better
There are death clubs that transport remains to deserts, where bodies become part of the lifecycle. Personally, I like the idea of being thrown into a pigsty. I like pigs and I don't think they should be eaten. Two pigs can consume a 180 lb human in 24 hours. The only part they don't eat is the teeth.
When I go to the great beyond, I want to help this earth not make it worse. This is the greatest idea. One question though. Will cemeteries let you be buried in one of these?
..... if they can charge you a lot for this "novelty', than the answer is yes.
Load More Replies...I love it! When I see an expensive coffin, including all craftsmen's art and fine abilities and stuff ... just to rot in the ground with a rotting corpse in it ... I think it is wasted. Would make a nice shelf... But these are brilliant, because they are functional in a useful way.
I just have one question... how are they supposed to get the body in there? The coffin is obviously way to heavy to carry.
Mycelium is extremely light. This coffin weights probably 1/4 or even less than a standard wooden one.
Load More Replies...Yeah, but where can you bury this? You can't just go dig a whole in the woods I'm pretty sure. It would have to go to a graveyard right? With a headstone maybe? And other chemicalized bodies nearby? In soil that will not be used for farming or truly part of the natural environment...?.
You do have to find a "cemetery" that allows natural burial. But usually, those places ONLY do natural burials, so you wouldn't be lying next to an embalmed body. They look like open fields or forests, with no headstones. Also, some states allow burials on private land, even your backyard if you wish.
Load More Replies...I have already purchased a bio urn for me and both my parents. I love the idea of being a tree when I am dead.
What is new about this? People have been buried in wooden coffins for centuries and before that just wrapped in a cloth. Just someone has found out how to make money off of something people have been doing since prehistoric times.
Then embalming became really popular during the Civil War (because lots of people died far from home). Embalming was so profitable that the funeral industry lobbied to make that the only legal method of burial. There are more options now, but in many states, it's still illegal to bury a body anywhere other than established cemeteries, and many cemeteries still require embalming.
Load More Replies...Good way for a murderer to get rid of a body. None of this "Hikers recently found the remains and he was arrested after twenty years on the loose."
zims, what does it have to do with murderers? Do you think that murderers buy coffins for their victims?
Load More Replies...So you're telling me I had to spend all of my "life" trying to survive and struggle obtaining every cell and energy in my body. And now you want to take it away quickly away from me when I die. I say let nature work to take away what I worked so hard for!
That's how nature intended it: to take away as quickly as possible all you worked for so hard and turn it into food for another living thing.
Load More Replies...I hope this will be more available by the time I’ll die. What an incredible way to live forever and feed our nature the nutrients we took from her.
Corpses are left only for forensics purposes.... faster the better to get rid of the body and... no, wait....
I don't think this coffin is meant for that... a lot of cremation caskets/coffins are made from wood, bamboo, wicker, cardboard, wool etc.
Load More Replies...Like the eco-friendliness of this but am still going to be cremated... no composting my remains, thanks.
Very eco friendly. I dont know if this is just me but i feel like i have been seeing creativity in coffin design.
Agreed. The price of burial in the US is staggering.
Load More Replies...My mom has a compost bin and whatever leftover turns into dirt or whatever. Imagine your dirt being somebody's decomposed body. (I don't think I'm using proper grammar or whatever)
I think that's an awesome idea! I would love for my body to have a positive effect after I'm finished with it.
Load More Replies...I am a mortician, teacher, and environmentalist. I volunteer with the Green Burial Council to educate folks (especially the funeral industry) on ecological funeral services.The soil is a galaxy of living organisms and it's purpose is to break down organic matter and turn it into "vital nutrients." To say "usually, it takes up to 12 years for the body to fully decompose" and that this "can bring it down to just 2 to 3 years" is misleading. An unembalmed body, buried with 2-3 ft of soil on top of it (the minimum required in most US states), and not in a "sealing" container (no casket or vault; maybe instead a shroud or simple pine box) can fully decompose in a month in the right circumstances. However, there is no exact science to this because of the complexity of factors involved. Though products like these help consumers reimagine how we relate to the environment at death, we don't need them for "nature [to] acquire vital nutrients more effectively." It's effective in it's own right.
"... and not in a sealing container...." that's exactly the problem!! Where would be the funeral industry without sealing containers?
Load More Replies...Caitlyn Doughty (who has an *awesome* youtube channel called "Ask a Mortician") would love this! I know I've been mentioning her a couple of times here but she's just that good.
Actually, I suspect she'd say this coffin is unnecessary, a $5 cotton shroud is perfectly sufficient.
Load More Replies...People need to get over the idea that a coffin is needed. It’s a gimmick.
I think that people would; it's the funeral industry, they even make you feel guilty if you want to buy a less expensive coffin.
Load More Replies...This is so much better than cremation, which is a process that is not environmentally friendly at all. I just wonder if using such coffins can be legalized everywhere. In the USA, even being buried in a plain pine box comes with the requirement of a cement "cap" over the top and sides of the coffin.
I can see potential for abuse here. What if somebody used my composted remains to grow broccoli. Or even worse cilantro.
I would feel honored.. but only for the broccoli - cilantro is pretty awful.
Load More Replies...I want this. Someday (many, many , many years from now) put my body in here.
I'd be for this if not for the reality that the bodies being composted unless under guard 24/7 would become targets for people who want to desecrate corpses.
It use to be wooden coffins. I don't know who came up with the idea of metal coffins with the velvet-cushion interiors, where the corpse turns into a ugly smelling liquid; probably those who do not like the idea of turning into a plant fertilizer. Humans think of themselves to be such a fine, unique species.... well, at the end it does not matter, you are just like any other creature.
Naah, the idea with "burial forrest" and being buried under some tree was better
There are death clubs that transport remains to deserts, where bodies become part of the lifecycle. Personally, I like the idea of being thrown into a pigsty. I like pigs and I don't think they should be eaten. Two pigs can consume a 180 lb human in 24 hours. The only part they don't eat is the teeth.
When I go to the great beyond, I want to help this earth not make it worse. This is the greatest idea. One question though. Will cemeteries let you be buried in one of these?
..... if they can charge you a lot for this "novelty', than the answer is yes.
Load More Replies...I love it! When I see an expensive coffin, including all craftsmen's art and fine abilities and stuff ... just to rot in the ground with a rotting corpse in it ... I think it is wasted. Would make a nice shelf... But these are brilliant, because they are functional in a useful way.
I just have one question... how are they supposed to get the body in there? The coffin is obviously way to heavy to carry.
Mycelium is extremely light. This coffin weights probably 1/4 or even less than a standard wooden one.
Load More Replies...Yeah, but where can you bury this? You can't just go dig a whole in the woods I'm pretty sure. It would have to go to a graveyard right? With a headstone maybe? And other chemicalized bodies nearby? In soil that will not be used for farming or truly part of the natural environment...?.
You do have to find a "cemetery" that allows natural burial. But usually, those places ONLY do natural burials, so you wouldn't be lying next to an embalmed body. They look like open fields or forests, with no headstones. Also, some states allow burials on private land, even your backyard if you wish.
Load More Replies...I have already purchased a bio urn for me and both my parents. I love the idea of being a tree when I am dead.
What is new about this? People have been buried in wooden coffins for centuries and before that just wrapped in a cloth. Just someone has found out how to make money off of something people have been doing since prehistoric times.
Then embalming became really popular during the Civil War (because lots of people died far from home). Embalming was so profitable that the funeral industry lobbied to make that the only legal method of burial. There are more options now, but in many states, it's still illegal to bury a body anywhere other than established cemeteries, and many cemeteries still require embalming.
Load More Replies...Good way for a murderer to get rid of a body. None of this "Hikers recently found the remains and he was arrested after twenty years on the loose."
zims, what does it have to do with murderers? Do you think that murderers buy coffins for their victims?
Load More Replies...So you're telling me I had to spend all of my "life" trying to survive and struggle obtaining every cell and energy in my body. And now you want to take it away quickly away from me when I die. I say let nature work to take away what I worked so hard for!
That's how nature intended it: to take away as quickly as possible all you worked for so hard and turn it into food for another living thing.
Load More Replies...I hope this will be more available by the time I’ll die. What an incredible way to live forever and feed our nature the nutrients we took from her.
Corpses are left only for forensics purposes.... faster the better to get rid of the body and... no, wait....
I don't think this coffin is meant for that... a lot of cremation caskets/coffins are made from wood, bamboo, wicker, cardboard, wool etc.
Load More Replies...Like the eco-friendliness of this but am still going to be cremated... no composting my remains, thanks.
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