“A love of Jute has had Sandra Thompson developing new ways of using the material. Her latest innovation is in the funeral business.”

Three years ago, she unexpectedly veered in a different direction: funerals. “I went into the office and said, ‘Why don’t we try a jute shroud?’ ” she says. “Everybody thought, ‘What’s she talking about now?’ ”

Thomson’s timing was impeccable. Jute is 100% biodegradable and her jute shrouds complemented the growing market for green funerals. Soon Thomson’s repertoire included coffins, urns for the ashes of loved ones, caskets, and books of remembrance.

Jute coffins are proving popular. Several layers of the plant fibre are compressed tightly together to make the jute boards that are used to build the coffins. They look wooden, and feel wooden, but they break down quicker in the soil than hardwood coffins and produce lower emissions when used for cremations, Thomson says.

- Richard Wilson @ Times Online: Link.

[Article uses both "Thompson" and "Thomson". I don't know which is correct. ~KGJ]

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Read the rest of Jute Funerals (144 words)

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