'Mycelium is nature’s recycler, under the forest floor, it restores the nutrients back to the earth'
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A funeral service based in Forest Hill has become the first in the UK to offer “living coffins.”
At her office in south London, director and founder of Poetic Endings, Louise Wintour, showed City London News an example of the world’s first ‘living coffin’.
Designed by Dutch company The Loop, the all-natural, biodegradable casket is the first of its kind and new to the UK.
She explained that the The Loop Living Cocoon is grown in just seven days in a growing facility in Delft, in the Netherlands. It’s made entirely from local mushroom species and upcycled hemp fibres.
Mushroom root networksgive the coffin a whiteish colour that changes over time – this is because the case itself is still living. It has a soft, spongy texture that Louise compares to a “brie rind.”
The coffin is 100% nature biodegradable, taking no longer than 45 days to completely decompose.
The mushroom species transform the dead organic material into nutrients for plants and trees.
People just really love it. It’s so tactile, it’s so lovely, there’s a bed of moss inside where the person lays before they are laid to rest, and it’s just such a beautiful alternative to the other coffins that are available at the moment.
– Louise Wintour, Poetic Endings founder
Environmental endings
Environmentalism is at the centre of why people are choosing this new and non-traditional form of burial.
According to Louise, the mycelium cocoons allow people to “return to nature in the most environmentally way possible.”
The living coffin does not require any trees to be cut down, nor does it contain any man-made materials.
Traditional coffins that use wood and metal can take years to breakdown, and contribute to ecologically unfriendly activities such as deforestation.
Those looking for an alternative burial are the primary target audience for the product.
Green, natural, woodland or eco-burials are all broadly the same type of process. These less conventional interments generally takes place in a rural setting. There tends to be no headstone and often the graves are unmarked.
The conservatism of death
Yet not everyone is expected to agree with this green leap into the afterlife.
Louise admits that it will take considerable effort to persuade the wider public of the new approach.
When people are faced with death, they tend to make conservative decisions. “Something really progressive and exciting like this is going to take quite a lot of work to persuade the public” (Credit: AP)
Death is really overwhelming, and traumatic, people often haven’t thought about it or realised it’s going to happen… so when they’re faced with it, they tend to make quite conservative decisions.
-Louise Wintour, Poetic Endings founder
Price is also a consideration. The living cocoon retails at £1,200, which is considerably more than standard coffins made from cheaper wood or cardboard. These typically cost anywhere between £250 – £500, although wood such as oak can easily exceed the mycelium cocoon in price.
Running out of space
A government study in 2007 estimated that the UK would run out of space to bury the dead within 30 years.
A BBC investigation in 2013 reported that a quarter of local authorities in England would be at capacity within a decade.
In 2024 proposals were made under the Law Commision to change outdated legislation on burial and cremation in the UK.
Current legislation makes it illegal to redevelop a graveyard for any reason other than to be a place of worship.
Other publicly-run cemeteries can be redeveloped if the owner is granted an Act of Parliament.
Concerns have recently been raised over the availability of space for new graves across the UK, particularly London (Credit: A Nichol)
Under the new proposals old graves could be reused, and closed burial grounds could be reopened to help manage the shortage of burial space.
The consultation period closed on 9 January. According to the Law Commission website, the report is likely to be published at the end of the year.
It said: “We will use the responses to the consultation to develop our final recommendations for reform, which ultimately will be published in a report.”
The final act
Natural burials offer an eco-friendly option that does not use maintenance-reliant urban sites, such as many of London’s decaying Victorian cemeteries.
On the Kent-Surrey border, City London News visited a natural woodland burial site offering alternative funeral options.
The Eden Valley burial ground is an 18 acre piece of land that features grassland, meadows, ponds and maturing woodland. It is also the first site in the UK where the mycelium coffins have been lain to rest.
Natural or green burials aim to leave little to no human trace behind. (Credit: A Nichol)
Martin House, runs the business, which seeks to “provide a place for people to be buried as well as an environment in which nature and wildlife can thrive.”
The aim of the business is therefore twofold. Firstly, to provide a space for natural burials, irrespective of faith. Secondly, by planting a tree above each burial plot, the reforesting of the land.
The symbiotic qualities of the mycelium coffins are perfect for natural burials in Martin’s opinion.
“I’m not really a religious person but to me, I would say, this is the closest you can get to a life after death”, he said.
“That person as they’re breaking down… all their atoms are going into that fungal network that is now living underground… that is literally being absorbed into it… and then its going to mix into that tree and other trees around.”
Natural burials at Eden Valley serve the dual purpose of offering an environmentally friendly funeral and deliberate reforestation (Credit: A Nichol)
Martin understands that many people feel helpless against the threat of climate change and other environmental pressures.
For him, the idea that this final act could make a lasting positive impact is what draws increasingly more individuals to natural burials.
But this is something you can do about it. You can say, right this is my bit of land, its going to be part of a woodland. There’s not too many things in life, or end of your life, where you can actually say it makes a big difference.
-Martin House, Eden Valley site manager
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Headline‘Living coffins’ now available at UK funerals
Short HeadlineLife after death, the green way
StandfirstLondon-based funeral directors are the first to offer Dutch-made coffins grown from fungi
A funeral service based in Forest Hill has become the first in the UK to offer “living coffins.”
At her office in south London, director and founder of Poetic Endings, Louise Wintour, showed City London News an example of the world’s first ‘living coffin’.
Designed by Dutch company The Loop, the all-natural, biodegradable casket is the first of its kind and new to the UK.
She explained that the The Loop Living Cocoon is grown in just seven days in a growing facility in Delft, in the Netherlands. It’s made entirely from local mushroom species and upcycled hemp fibres.
Mushroom root networksgive the coffin a whiteish colour that changes over time – this is because the case itself is still living. It has a soft, spongy texture that Louise compares to a “brie rind.”
The coffin is 100% nature biodegradable, taking no longer than 45 days to completely decompose.
The mushroom species transform the dead organic material into nutrients for plants and trees.
People just really love it. It’s so tactile, it’s so lovely, there’s a bed of moss inside where the person lays before they are laid to rest, and it’s just such a beautiful alternative to the other coffins that are available at the moment.
– Louise Wintour, Poetic Endings founder
Environmental endings
Environmentalism is at the centre of why people are choosing this new and non-traditional form of burial.
According to Louise, the mycelium cocoons allow people to “return to nature in the most environmentally way possible.”
The living coffin does not require any trees to be cut down, nor does it contain any man-made materials.
Traditional coffins that use wood and metal can take years to breakdown, and contribute to ecologically unfriendly activities such as deforestation.
Those looking for an alternative burial are the primary target audience for the product.
Green, natural, woodland or eco-burials are all broadly the same type of process. These less conventional interments generally takes place in a rural setting. There tends to be no headstone and often the graves are unmarked.
The conservatism of death
Yet not everyone is expected to agree with this green leap into the afterlife.
Louise admits that it will take considerable effort to persuade the wider public of the new approach.
When people are faced with death, they tend to make conservative decisions. “Something really progressive and exciting like this is going to take quite a lot of work to persuade the public” (Credit: AP)
Death is really overwhelming, and traumatic, people often haven’t thought about it or realised it’s going to happen… so when they’re faced with it, they tend to make quite conservative decisions.
-Louise Wintour, Poetic Endings founder
Price is also a consideration. The living cocoon retails at £1,200, which is considerably more than standard coffins made from cheaper wood or cardboard. These typically cost anywhere between £250 – £500, although wood such as oak can easily exceed the mycelium cocoon in price.
Running out of space
A government study in 2007 estimated that the UK would run out of space to bury the dead within 30 years.
A BBC investigation in 2013 reported that a quarter of local authorities in England would be at capacity within a decade.
In 2024 proposals were made under the Law Commision to change outdated legislation on burial and cremation in the UK.
Current legislation makes it illegal to redevelop a graveyard for any reason other than to be a place of worship.
Other publicly-run cemeteries can be redeveloped if the owner is granted an Act of Parliament.
Concerns have recently been raised over the availability of space for new graves across the UK, particularly London (Credit: A Nichol)
Under the new proposals old graves could be reused, and closed burial grounds could be reopened to help manage the shortage of burial space.
The consultation period closed on 9 January. According to the Law Commission website, the report is likely to be published at the end of the year.
It said: “We will use the responses to the consultation to develop our final recommendations for reform, which ultimately will be published in a report.”
The final act
Natural burials offer an eco-friendly option that does not use maintenance-reliant urban sites, such as many of London’s decaying Victorian cemeteries.
On the Kent-Surrey border, City London News visited a natural woodland burial site offering alternative funeral options.
The Eden Valley burial ground is an 18 acre piece of land that features grassland, meadows, ponds and maturing woodland. It is also the first site in the UK where the mycelium coffins have been lain to rest.
Natural or green burials aim to leave little to no human trace behind. (Credit: A Nichol)
Martin House, runs the business, which seeks to “provide a place for people to be buried as well as an environment in which nature and wildlife can thrive.”
The aim of the business is therefore twofold. Firstly, to provide a space for natural burials, irrespective of faith. Secondly, by planting a tree above each burial plot, the reforesting of the land.
The symbiotic qualities of the mycelium coffins are perfect for natural burials in Martin’s opinion.
“I’m not really a religious person but to me, I would say, this is the closest you can get to a life after death”, he said.
“That person as they’re breaking down… all their atoms are going into that fungal network that is now living underground… that is literally being absorbed into it… and then its going to mix into that tree and other trees around.”
Natural burials at Eden Valley serve the dual purpose of offering an environmentally friendly funeral and deliberate reforestation (Credit: A Nichol)
Martin understands that many people feel helpless against the threat of climate change and other environmental pressures.
For him, the idea that this final act could make a lasting positive impact is what draws increasingly more individuals to natural burials.
But this is something you can do about it. You can say, right this is my bit of land, its going to be part of a woodland. There’s not too many things in life, or end of your life, where you can actually say it makes a big difference.
