In Pennsylvania, a man named Max Justice is producing mushroom coffins to help make the act of burying a loved one more environmentally friendly.
Justice, CEO of Setas Eternal Living in Franklin County, told Fox43 the process works by growing mycelium into a coffin-shaped mold. The shaped mushroom is then purified and cooked in an oven. The water in the deceased’s corpse eventually revives the mycelium, which then biodegrades the body in about 3 years. On average, the company makes one human coffin and two pet coffins per week.
Justice adds that the process is much greener than a conventional funeral with metal coffins, where “natural resources [are taken] out of the ground to put a dead body into it and [put] back in the ground. It absolutely doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
Setas’ coffins are also cheaper. “Right now, our coffins are $2,495,” he said. “Getting a coffin at a funeral home, those can easily start around $5,000 and quickly go to $20,000.”