Biodegradable coffins are 'growing in popularity'

The willow coffins are handmade using traditional techniques

Demand for biodegradable caskets is growing in popularity, to coffin-makers said.

Artists Helen Lomberg and Amanda Rose set up the Gloucester Willow Coffin Company after repeated requests from people at local farmers' markets.

"I could see that it was a need in some people to take care of these things and to think about their impact on the earth and what they want to leave behind.

"I think the thing that really draws me to it, it's so sustainable," Ms Lomberg said.

Amanda Rose (L) and Helen Lomberg started the company after repeated requests

Customers are offered the opportunity to work with the artists, adding their own personal touches to the coffin.

Some people bring greenery from their garden or small mementos to weave into the coffin.

"Maybe that just helps a little bit with the grieving process," said Ms Lomberg.

The handles are also biodegradable, made from hemp rope.

Ms Lomberg has been crafting items, such as baskets and sculptures, from willow for 35 years.

"In Gloucestershire we're beginning to see the appeal of these traditional ways of doing things because of the lower impact on the environment.

"Crafting willow also gives a wonderful link to our domestic, agricultural past.

"We have a crop every year, something useful and beautiful.

"It can be used and return to the earth.

"There's no pollution and no threat to the environment," she added.

The willow coffins, including the hemp rope handles, are fully biodegradable

Ms Rose started as a student of her fellow artist and said she found the process very therapeutic.

"There is something very tactile and organic about a basket.

"It seems like a lovely completion of the circle to be put to bed at the end of your life in a coffin, having started your life, possibly, in a wicker crib," she said.

For their next enterprise, the pair plan to make coffins for pets.