Dying to be green: Are mushroom coffins the secret to an eco-friendly death?
CNN
Bob Hendrikx, the Dutch inventor of the "Loop" coffin, says it decomposes in weeks instead of years and feeds on the human body.
Dutch inventor Bob Hendrikx is harnessing the power of fungi by using mycelium -- vast webs of fungal threads that normally live underground -- as an alternative to traditional wooden coffins. His environmentally friendly "living coffin," he says, is not only carbon negative to grow, but decomposes in six weeks, rather than the 20 years it can take for a regular wooden coffin. The coffin also gets to work decomposing the body, speeding up the process by which nature can absorb the nutrients of the deceased.
Hendrikx's company Loop is not the first to hitch itself to the eco-hearse. Cremated human remains can be placed in pods to grow trees or cast into artificial coral reefs, while coffins made from wicker, macramé and cardboard are all on the market. Woodland burials, where coffins and clothing are made from all-natural materials, are also experiencing a resurgence. And when actor Luke Perry died in 2019 he was buried in a "mushroom suit" designed to help decompose his body. But using mycelium to enclose the body in a "living coffin" is a novel approach.