Davis Funerals Switches to Green Coffins

Davis Funerals Switches to Green Coffins

New Zealand’s leading funeral provider Davis Funerals now uses caskets that are better for the environment.

Leading the way in environmental initiatives for the funeral industry Davis Funerals has replaced all their MDF (medium density fibreboard) coffins with more earth-friendly coffins made and designed by Return to Sender.

Davis’ owner Neil Little says it is important that his business takes responsibility for the impact placed on the environment by his industry.

“We realised it was time to make a change and so we now only provide coffins and urns which are better for the environment,” he said.

Leanne Holdsworth who runs Return to Sender says their solid pine coffins are better for our environment than MDF across all key measures: better for the climate, use less fossil fuel and create less pollution.

Return to Sender began eight years ago when Leanne’s husband Greg designed a casket her father would have loved.

Twenty years ago Leanne’s father had died after a lifetime of working on wooden boats.

“His passion was working with wood and sanding down boats in the weekend. So when Greg and I saw the coffin he was to be buried in we were horrified. It wasn’t wood, it was MDF, with some shiny plastic coating. We didn’t say anything but we knew Dad wouldn’t have liked that one bit. It was a complete values mismatch”

So 12 years later while doing a design degree Greg designed a coffin Leanne’s dad would have liked, named it the Artisan Casket and it was picked up to be exhibited at the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt Design museum in New York.

“We started talking to some funeral directors about making better coffins for this market and the guys at Davis’ were one of the first to show interest,” said Leanne.

“And then they became shareholders which has meant we can grow our business and Davis can achieve their goal of being more socially and environmentally responsible.”

Today Return to Sender has 9 employees and provides many different types of natural casket to choose from.

And, at the request of Davis’, they now also provide an alternative to the plastic urns which for decades have been the main option for holding loved ones ashes.

“They came to us and asked us to design a more environmentally friendly option for ashes so now we provide specially designed pine boxes for them.”

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