By Vince Patton, KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8
In the business of death, environmentalism just now is coming to life. Oregon will soon be home to the North American debut of the world’s first casket made of recycled materials.
Eugene based Natural Burial Company will be the first in the nation to import the Ecopod from Great Britain, where it was invented. The Ecopod is made of recycled paper and is covered in recycled silk and mulberry leaves.
But what makes it stand out most is its shape. It’s curved like a seed pod. Some people wonder if it’s a kayak cover when they first see it.
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And it’s light. At 40 pounds, a single person can carry it while empty, though it is rated to carry a body up to 260 pounds.
“I said, that’s it!” said Cynthia Beal, owner of Natural Burial Company. “This, number one, is what I want. Number two, this can change how we think about death.”
Beal’s company has arranged to be the first to import the Ecopod coffin in the United States.
“It’s a fiber and it melts in the earth and it takes me back into the earth. I thought, wow! That’s the way it should be,” Beal said.
“It’s not your archetypal Dracula coffin,” said Peter Rock. He brought the first sample Ecopod to Oregon from Britain. “It does help break the ice,” he said. “People don’t see it as a coffin.”
Ecopod also offers an urn container for ashes shaped like an Acorn.
With the Ecopod, decomposition is encouraged, body and all.
“In the U.K. we have always only put our coffins straight into the ground,” said Rock. “We’ve never put a protective liner as you have here in the U.S.”
The green burial movement not only reexamines how people are buried, but where. More people want burials in natural areas, not under acres of manicured grass.
In Hillsboro, Valley Memorial Park has enough spare land to offer that. A number of acres stretch out around a lake. Part of it is wooded. Another lies untouched as a meadow full of native grasses.
People can now opt for burial in these areas
“A certain segment of the population wants to go back to the simplicity of that, I believe,” said Valley Memorial owner David Schroeder.
In the woodland area, markers may be small on nearby trees. In the meadow, markers will not be allowed at all. Families who wish to find loved ones will be guided by GPS handheld units to the location of a loved one’s grave.
Traditional plots will still be available but the natural areas are now open too.
Valley Memorial is also considering offering the Ecopod coffin. Schroeder calls it the first true innovation in the burial industry in decades.
Natural Burials hopes to being importing the Ecopods by the spring of 2007.
Source - kgw.com