Fenella Probert has seen her Far North company Zenith Eco Coffins take off in the past two years as more people look for environmentally friendly alternatives to expensive coffins.
Fenella Probert has seen her Far North company Zenith Eco Coffins take off in the past two years as more people look for environmentally friendly alternatives to expensive coffins.
When Fenella Probert’s dad died about 18 years ago, she was saddened that she couldn’t uphold one of his final wishes — to be buried in an eco-friendly coffin.
Probert said when her dad died she wanted to have a burial that followed his wishes, including an eco-friendly coffin, rather than an expensive wooden one that might leach contaminants into the environment.
However, she was unable to find a suitable coffin at the time and was disappointed she could not honour his wishes. But that planted a seed — there must be other people that wanted similar coffins, so how could she help them?
“I did a lot of work to try to get one for Dad as he didn’t want the wooden or MDF (medium-density fibreboard) toxic caskets, he wanted a natural one that would not do more damage to the Earth, but it was so hard to get one.’’
Probert said she initially started her business to help people out and it was a fairly low-key operation until about two years ago, when she decided to promote the eco coffins on social media.
Since then, things have taken off with dozens of orders and more every week.
The company sells coffins made from bamboo, willow, seagrass, and cardboard. The caskets are strong and have load test certification from Building Research Association New Zealand, with weight-bearing capacity of 300kg. All the coffins are lined with unbleached calico, apart from the cardboard ones.
Probert said when she first started about 18 years ago, there was not a lot of interest in eco coffins, so they were hard to find, but “increasingly, people in New Zealand are choosing to bid their loved ones farewell from this Earth in ways that will not cause further damage”.
“Eco coffins provide an environmental and affordable alternative to the fake wood, toxic coffins on the market. Our beautiful, biodegradable plant woven coffins are suitable for burial and cremation,” she said.
Fenella Probert with the range of eco coffins her company Zenith Eco Coffins sells from her home near Kaitāia. They are made from bamboo, willow, seagrass, and cardboard
“Things have really taken off the past few years as more and more people want this option — it’s about being eco-friendly. As people, we do enough damage to the planet and some want to make sure they do as little damage as possible when they die.
“But it’s also a much-cheaper option. A wooden casket can cost several thousand dollars — and much more too — but mine cost (for a basic model) $400 for a cardboard one and $1100 for the others, so they are much cheaper.”
Probert said her clients have come from all sectors of society, so there isn’t a typical “eco-coffin person”, but all wanted to do something for the environment as their last act — “and I have had quite a few Māori customers recently”.
But it hasn’t been smooth sailing to get to this point as she got “ripped off” by one potential supplier, and had to make sure the caskets she was selling would be suitable for burial and cremation.
“They had to be robust enough to be lowered [into the ground] or for cremation, They’ve also got to have flat bottoms (so they can transported along rollers into the crematorium) and they have to be leak-proof. It was a bit of a slow start at first — some people loved it, but others just didn’t get it.
“Before it was mainly through word of mouth and I didn’t do any advertising. But in the last two years, it’s started to really grow. I put it on Facebook and I got really prolific feedback and so many people are keen for an eco coffin. The positive responses I’ve got from people hasn’t really surprised me, as I knew there must be other people out there who wanted this too.
“It’s really been a symbiotic growth and the time is right, now that people are taking so much more interest in what is good for the planet and what is not.
