By Anna Millar, Scotland on Sunday
IT MAY look like a laundry basket, but this is increasingly the future for those of us who - not to put too fine a point on it - have no future. The wicker coffin is rapidly emerging as the way to carry on being green for eternity. The woven cane caskets don’t cost the earth, either in terms of environmental damage or - at around £500 cheaper than a wooden version - hard cash.
Trevor Leat, the Galloway-based sculptor responsible for giant effigies at the annual Wickerman Festival and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, is among those leading the trend.
Leat agrees there has been “an increased interest in all things green” and, for a fee of around £400 to £500, will create a made-to-measure wicker coffin.
According to the Natural Death Centre, a charity which supports dying and bereaved relatives, 437,000 wooden coffins are wastefully burned in the UK each year. They pollute the atmosphere with thousands of tonnes of dioxins, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide.
The trend for green burial is already well-established with around 100 nature reserve cemeteries already open in the UK and a further 50 applying for planning permission. The sites are deliberately kept wild, and while headstones are generally not permitted, memorial trees can be planted.
Dame Barbara Cartland, who died in 2000 just weeks before her 99th birthday, was buried in her back garden in a biodegradable cardboard coffin.
Leat said he believed wicker coffins were a natural progression. “I started it four or five years ago, but the last two or three years has certainly seen an increase in green burials,” he said. “There’s undoubtedly an increased interest in all things green. Wicker is biodegradable and environmentally sound, so it ticks a lot of boxes.”
He added: “What we are asked for in size and design very much depends on the person. They are a lot cheaper. A wicker coffin will generally not cost you more than about £400-£500, while you would expect to pay more than a £1,000 for a traditional wooden one.”
Leat, who grows his own willow at a nearby farm, has also set up workshops in the past to give people the scope to build their own wicker caskets.
He said: “People really want to take an active hand in their own funeral arrangements, and being in charge of what happens to them.”
John Weir, spokesman for the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, said: “Nationally there is an increased interest in eco-burials with some moving towards bamboo or wicker alternatives, and while it’s too early to have exact figures, members are reporting an increase in more eco-friendly alternatives. Cardboard is also becoming popular, in step with people becoming more aware of the planet and the knock-on environmental effects.
“The culture has changed in recent years. There’s so much more discussion now about death in the media and on television. It’s previously been a very taboo thing and that is changing, and with that change comes an openness to think about new ways of doing things. That can only be a good thing.”
Some countries are going even further. In 2005 the Swedish town of Jonkoping revealed it was preparing to become the first to adopt freeze-dried burials. The process sees bodies frozen in liquid nitrogen then broken into dust. The remains can be buried in a shallow grave, where they decompose and nourish the earth within weeks.
Churches have backed the plan, describing the issues as ethically similar to those addressed when approving cremation about 100 years ago.
Last night, a spokesman for the British Humanist Society said: “There has definitely been a large increase in the last two years of people wanting to put a more humanist slant on things - and as part of that there is quite often an environmental slant. A lot of it is to do with people wanting to become more involved in what happens to them after they are gone.”
No lid on prices
THE price of coffins varies enormously - from cheap chipboard to expensive lead-lined caskets.
DIY kits for cardboard coffins can be bought for only £50, including delivery.
The price of wicker coffins made by Leatrigg, run by Trevor Leat with colleague Alex Rigg, range from £400 to £500 for larger sizes.
Traditional wood coffins can cost more than £1,000, while lead-lined metal caskets from the US can top £10,000.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=33142007