Putting colour into funerals with eco-friendly 'cardboard' coffins

Saying a final goodbye to a loved one doesn't have to be a bleak affair. A South African company is putting some colour into funerals - with brightly decorated eco-friendly "cardboard" coffins.

More than 15, 000 have been sold per year since 2011 in countries including Australia, Belgium and Germany, where funerals are increasingly seen as a celebration of life rather than a sombre event.

Custom designs include a golf theme, a surfer island and a bright daisy coffin that pokes gentle fun at the notion of "pushing up daisies". There is also a plain white one on which mourners can write personal messages to the deceased.

Image Coffins founder James Beattie said they stumbled into the funeral industry while making high-strength shelving boards from post-consumer waste fibre, or repulped boxes.

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LifeArt in Australia was the first international company to show interest in the boards as coffins in 2011. Belgium and Germany followed soon after.

The board was put through its paces. "It's incredible how many tests we had to do with mortuaries. The first thing we had to do was a moisture test. Sometimes mortuary floors are wet," Beattie said.

The lightweight boards can be converted into coffins in a few hours and can withstand up to 500kg of pressure. During cremations, they produced 40% less carbon emissions than wood coffins, said Beattie.

Andrew Wyllie, manager of funeral home Tony Wyllie and Co, said of the new designs: "It sounds cheesy, but it's putting the fun back into funerals. There's a trend overseas. People are starting to see funerals and death as more of a celebration of life. Some people might see it as comical or disrespectful, but you got to take it as an alternative to celebrate their life."

Daniel Khumalo, Doves Gauteng regional manager, said South Africa did not appear to have picked up on the trend towards light-hearted funerals. "A send-off is one of the most important days on the calendar. That should be respected however the person chooses. But if it is eco-friendly, why not?"

Wyllie's funeral home started selling the coffins locally this week as a package deal of R6000 that includes burial or cremation, hearse and funeral services. Prices of a conventional coffin in South Africa range from R700 to R40, 000.

But Wyllie said the local market would be tough to crack. "I don't think everybody will go for it. Some will still like the old traditional ones."

Thulie Mdluli, national air quality officer at the Department of Environmental Affairs, said crematoriums were regulated along with other industries thatwere required to reduce emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen and mercury by 2020.