Caskets

There are many Eco-friendly caskets available, in fact, so many that we can’t carry them all in stock. We do have many in our catalogue which can be obtained within 48 hours. The two most used ones we do have in stock at all times are:

The ‘Plain Pine Box’, known as a Settler Casket [Link ] – This is made of seconds Pine and supplied with rope handles.
The ‘Crafted Pine’ – This is made from 1^st NZ pine and supplied with finely crafted wooden handles that are comfortable to carry with. [Link to casket]

As mentioned above, there are many more eco-friendly caskets available including bamboo, plywood, woollen, and willow. Some of the suppliers include TenderRest, Return to Sender, and Natural Legacy. We can obtain caskets from all these and many other suppliers.

Deceased Preparations

There are many preparation options available that minimise the harmful effects of chemicals on the environment.

Simply doing nothing to the deceased does not rid the body of harmful toxins in the body or the chemicals induced through medications during the later stages of illness.

There are two options we suggest for eco-friendly preparations of the deceased:

1. Low index embalming – This use of very low index chemicals is commonly used for sanitisation and short-term preservation of the deceased.

2. Ecoprep – A truly natural preparation process developed by our Managing Director, Andrew Malcolm, which cleanses and sanitises the body with an arterial wash but does not preserve the tissue. This leaves the body truly formaldehyde-free and slows the body’s deterioration to a natural time frame. The limitation of this technique is the time the body can be kept between death and the funeral. For more information on ecoprep, please feel free to call us.

There is only one cemetery in Kapiti that offers Natural burials, and that is Otaki Cemetery. Here’s a link to their page