A woman named Carolyn was laid to rest in Springwood Cemetery in New South Wales, becoming the first person to be buried in a mushroom-based coffin in Australia. The eco-friendly coffin, created by Dutch firm Loop Biotech, is made from mycelium and hemp fibres and takes about 45 days to biodegrade into nutrient-rich soil. Carolyn's husband chose the mushroom coffin as it aligned with his wife's values of giving back to nature. According to Dr Hannah Gould, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Melbourne, there has been an increasing interest in environmentally friendly funerals among Australians.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Carolyn, a 70-year-old woman from New South Wales, was laid to rest on Friday at Springwood Cemetery in the Blue Mountains. Her coffin was made from mushrooms grown by the Dutch firm Loop Biotech, using mycelium - the root network of fungi - and hemp fibres. The process takes just a week for the coffin to form in a climate-controlled room, and another 45 days for it to biodegrade into nutrient-rich soil after burial. This is significantly faster than traditional wooden caskets, which can take up to 50 years to break down. Carolyn's husband, David, chose the mushroom coffin because it aligned with his wife's values of giving back to nature and helping others. The founder of Loop Biotech, Bob Hendrikx, hopes that this eco-friendly option will become more popular in Australia and reduce the environmental impact of traditional funerals. This was the first time a mushroom coffin had been used for a burial in Australia.
Written for “Australian Funeral Innovation” on 2026-09-07,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
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No political leaning scored for article 6138 · logged 2026-09-07
A woman has been buried in a coffin made from mushrooms in New South Wales in an eco-friendly first for Australia.
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woman → bury → Australia
Carolyn, whose surname was withheld for privacy reasons, was laid to rest on Friday by friends and family at Springwood Cemetery in the Blue Mountains.
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surname → withhold → Mountains
The mushroom coffin, created by the Dutch firm Loop Biotech, was grown from mycelium – the root network of fungi – and hemp fibres.
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coffin → create → fungi
The coffin is grown in mould in a climate-controlled room, taking just a week to fully form.
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coffin → grow → week
Once buried, it takes about 45 days to become part of the soil.
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it → bury → soil
The process is akin to composting, as the body and coffin gently biodegrade and transform into nutrient-rich soil in far less time than a traditional wooden casket, which can take up to 50 years to break down.
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which → biodegrade → years
Carolyn’s husband, Donald, said picking the mushroom coffin aligned with his wife’s values of giving back.
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picking → say → values
“She was always there to help others.
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She → help → others
It feels very true to who she was that even after her death, she can still do something for others while giving something back to nature,” he said.
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he → feel → nature
While Carolyn is the first to be buried in the coffin in Australia, Loop Biotech’s founder Bob Hendrikx said there had been thousands of others across Europe and the US.
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Hendrikx → bury → Europe
“Five years ago when I started, there was lots of interest from Australia,” Hendrikx said.
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Hendrikx → start → Australia
“It was a little bit harder to ship overseas [at the time].”
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It → ship → time
Hendrikx hopes the mushroom coffins, which weigh about 30kg each, could improve the sustainability of the Australian funeral sector by shortening the decomposition process.
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which → hop → process
“It’s about giving back to nature: we have the mushroom, which is grown and dissolves into nature, but the actual benefit is that … it’s enriching the soil,” he said.
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he → ’ → soil
“The body needs to just return to nature and let nature do what it’s done best forever.
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it → need → what
“If a kangaroo dies in the forest, it’s just going to be part of the cycle of life.”
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it → die → life
Dr Hannah Gould, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Melbourne, believes people are becoming increasingly interested in environmentally friendly farewells.
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people → believe → farewells
“As people perhaps become less religious, other kinds of values or community groupings become more important, and one of those that we’ve seen is eco-death.
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we → become → that
“This idea that perhaps that you don’t go up to heaven after you die, you return to the earth, has been an increasingly popular narrative around death and dying.”
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you → go → death
While about 70% of Australians choose to be cremated, it has a substantial environmental impact: the emissions from a typical cremation are estimated to be equivalent to 125kg of carbon dioxide.
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emissions → choose → dioxide
In recent years options such as alkaline hydrolysis (a cremation-like process that uses water instead of fire), natural burials without embalming, and even shallow burials have become available.
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burials → use → embalming
A natural burial uses a cardboard coffin with rope handles and will emit less than 10kg of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to PlanetMark analysis.
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burial → use → analysis
Gould believes that as Australians are living longer and more people are dying from prolonged illnesses, more time is being spent thinking about how to depart and farewell loved ones.
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time → believe → ones
“They’ve maybe seen or organised a funeral for their parents and it hasn’t gone so well,” she said.
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she → see → parents
“And they’re now deciding that they want to do things differently.
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they → decide → things
So we’re seeing a huge rise in funeral planning.”
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we → see → planning
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This story was amended on 7 September 2026 to correct the name of Carolyn’s husband, Donald.
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story → amend → husband
