DanCof Sustainable Coffin

Brahe Design, a Danish design company, has produced what it’s calling a “green way to heaven,” with its DanCof coffins and urns made from long-fibre recycled paper pulp. Conventional coffins are often heavy – over 75 pounds – and are made from more expensive materials, like chipboard or medium-density fibreboard. Brahe boasts a much lighter coffin, at about 13 pounds.  It contains no formaldehyde or other pollutants found in typical coffins, and is biodegradable.  The material used to produce the coffins and urns has been treated so as not to dissolve in water.

In designing the coffin, Brahe looked into how funerals are conducted around the world to make sure it could be used for local customs. For instance, its interior bottom has a fold in the middle so that deceased Muslims can be placed on their sides, in accordance with tradition. The colour scheme of the coffin can customized, including the lid and bottom. Ornaments, like a cross for a Christian, or an anchor for a sailor, can also be added.

Brahe has plans to mass produce the coffins for export, and hopes they will become as well-known as another Danish product: Legos.

(Source: Resource Recycling in April 2011 WasteWatch)

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