NZ wool being used to make eco-friendly caskets
A Christchurch wool business has found a successful and unusual niche for its product.
Low-emissions caskets and urns made from New Zealand wool are an environmentally friendly option for eternal rest, according to a Canterbury business.
Exquisite Wool Traders, the retail arm of Yaldhurst Wools, market and sell woollen caskets made from New Zealand wool.
John and Marylyn Betts started the business in the 1980s but now it's run by their daughter Polly McGuckin and her husband Ross.
Natural Legacy Woollen Caskets have been growing in popularity over the last 13 years, Polly McGuckin told Country Life.
A lot of attention to detail goes into the casket making process.
Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
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“We started out doing bedding blankets, and that was going on for three years, and then we got offered Natural Legacy Woollen Caskets.”
The caskets are sturdy and can manage weights of up 220kg, she says.
“It goes through this big wash that's like a felt, and then it's got jute underneath that goes right around the casket like a handbag if it has straps right around that gives you strong reinforcing. So, it's been very well designed.”
Three fleeces worth of wool go into each casket.
“They're made in the UK by an old mill, and the story was they researched back in time in the 1700s why the wool industry had a resurgence, and it was to do with that it was passed in Parliament that everyone be wrapped in a woollen shroud.
“So, they thought why don't we start designing a casket? and that's how it all got started.”
Polly McGuckin and Patrick Cotter in the Exquisite Wool Traders showroom at Yaldhurst.
Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Manufacturing limitations in New Zealand mean they can’t be made here, she says.
“And to be honest, the mill spent a small fortune in designing, not only designing, but the actual milling of this cloth.”
They are suited to the growing eco-burial market, she says.
“The loved one has to be buried with no non-biodegradable shoes or clothing. It has to be natural fibre, not synthetic.
“So they are suitable for eco-burial and cremation as well. They're very low in emissions for cremation.”
Although promoting such a product is a challenge, the business is growing, says Patrick Cotter who handles the marketing side of the business.
“In the last couple of weeks, we've sold almost dozens. I know families personally that have had them, and they just said it was a really nice alternative, especially when families are coming from a farming background,” he says.
The company also makes woollen urns.
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