Uusi puu – The New Wood Project shows what wood can do. The project promotes wood-based innovations and provides information about them.
Hukkapuu Oy is introducing a coffin made completely of recycled wood.
In Finland, the departed are laid to rest in a coffin or an urn, and about 60,000 coffins are made each year. Despite the short time that they are there to be seen, coffins are almost invariably made of timber not used before.
Hukkapuu Oy wanted to develop a coffin for which trees would not need to be felled. The Hukkapuu coffin is made completely of recycled timber: of clean, untreated boards, planks and pallets.
All other components of the coffin are also made of materials that are environmentally friendly and, as far as possible, recycled. The non-toxic coffin of recycled wood meets the requirements of Finnish legislation and is suitable for both coffin and urn burials. At the end of its life span, the coffin returns to the cycle of nature without causing emissions.
Though the coffin itself will only be used once, the manufacturer Hukkapuu stresses that its manufacturing process is designed to avoid all waste. The use of recycled wood in coffins reduces fellings, saves energy and resources and maintains carbon sinks.
Hukkapuu Oy is the only coffin manufacturer in Finland to use recycled wood. The company notes that the choices made for the deceased’s final journey can also be based on planet-friendly values and that respect for nature can be shown even at the very end of a person’s life.
Forest.fi and New Wood are initiatives of the Finnish Forest Association.