In New York, a new company called Transcend is signing up future corpses to turn into trees.
The startup hopes to tap into the green burial trend while also reforesting the world, Matthew Kochmann, Transcend founder and CEO, tells Forbes. The company’s process involves wrapping a body in an organic flax linen shroud and burying it in fungi-enriched soil.
“With a young tree planted above it, mushrooms work their magic to ensure a direct connection between the nutrient-rich body and the tree’s root system so that the body can literally become the tree,” the company says.
Becoming a tree sequesters six times more CO2 than is emitted during cremation, Kochmann says.
To secure a discounted price of $8,500, Transcend is offering $100 founding memberships for its service. For every customer it signs up, the Brooklyn-based company will also plant 100 trees and gift a free T-shirt for you to enjoy before you “shuffle off this mortal coil.”