Durban company makes environmentally friendly coffins

BURYING a loved one is heartbreaking, and in this day and age, a funeral costs grieving families a lot of money as they try to keep up with the new trends.

A Pinetown company, which came into the industry eight years ago, came up with a concept to manufacture cardboard coffins. The coffins are not only cost-effective, but they are environmentally friendly to cremate when compared to a normal chipboard/wood coffin.

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Glen Miller, founder and director of Ecologico Cardboard Coffins said their coffins are unique and unheard of to some.

“People don’t naturally think that you can make a coffin out of 100% cardboard, but we do. Our coffins are extremely strong and are weight-tested to hold up to 220 kilograms of weight!” he said.

Miller said they now directly supply to a number of funeral homes that cater to the cremation funeral market in South Africa and other parts of the world, as well.

“Our coffins can be both cremated or buried, in fact, cardboard is fully biodegradable in soil. However, due to cultural preferences within our South African population demographic, the communities that bury their loved ones choose to specifically favour wooden coffins.”

Therefore Miller said they don’t see many of their coffins being used in burials, but they hope that will change as people start to value the environmental benefits of their coffins, even in burials.

“We employ up to 12 staff members at a time, all who reside in the Pinetown area, and we are proud to be able to create employment opportunities as a result of this novel idea.

According to Miller, when cremating their coffins, the air pollution emissions are far less, burn time is faster and their coffins give off far less particulate matter.

“These criteria are all major concerns for public air quality and environmental emissions. We have done tests to prove our findings, and our coffins are accepted and approved by a number of crematoriums across eThekwini, KZN and the rest of South Africa.

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What’s more, the company also export overseas.

“Overseas family members even paint custom designs on our coffins as a mourning method to help them cope with death and loss of a loved one. This has proven to be a huge psychological benefit to using a cardboard coffin, as well,” he said.

In addition, Miller said they believe that their coffins offer a responsible choice for grieving family members as they would be making an eco-conscious decision.

“We trust that would leave them with a feeling they are contributing to ‘leaving a lighter footprint’ on our planet Earth,” said Miller.

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