Plan to create 'natural burial ground' in Co Wexford

A COMPANY which specialises in supplying “environmentally-friendly” coffins is planning to expand its services to create Ireland’s first “natural burial ground”.

The Green Graveyard Co Ltd has applied for planning permission to create a natural graveyard on the slopes of the Blackstairs Mountains, in Co Wexford. The proposed location is a 7.5 acre site “surrounded by mature chestnut trees” between the villages of Killann and Kiltealy.

The Donegal-based company owner Colin McAteer said there was public demand for such a facility as “conventional Irish graveyards fall a long way short” of people’s ideal “final resting place”. He is hoping to open the Co Wexford facility in April and to eventually establish natural burial grounds “in every Irish county”.

The natural burial grounds would be “sacred and natural places where people of all faiths and those without any religion” could find “a beautiful final resting place” surrounded by native Irish trees, flowers and wildlife. The company has already held discussions with “very helpful” clergy in Co Wexford.

Mr McAteer, who comes from a family of funeral directors in the village of Fanad, said the public could expect “big savings” on burial costs. He explained that while “the cost of a double plot would be about €1,500”, the natural burial ground would not use “marble headstones and concrete surrounds that are commonplace in Irish graveyards” and can cost “more than €3,000”. Instead graves would be marked by a simple plaque “at minimal cost”.

His sister company, Green Coffins Ireland Ltd already supplies a range of coffins made from willow, cardboard, banana-leaf or water hyacinth throughout the 32 counties.

Mr McAteer said that demand for “eco-friendly” products was “growing week-on-week” and the coffins, especially the cardboard version, were much less expensive than conventional caskets.

The company’s product range, already available from 150 undertakers throughout the State, includes a willow coffin made in Donegal “from trees grown near the village of Greencastle”. The coffins made from banana leaf use “a waste product from banana farming”.

Bamboo coffins are hand-made in China “in a Fair Trade accredited factory” using plants “grown and cropped in government-licensed plantations close to the factory”.

The company claims that “when cut down at the root, bamboo takes just 59 days to grow back to full height without the need for replanting.”

For those who choose cremation, the company also supplies “green” urns, including ‘‘The Acorn Urn’’ which is manufactured from “100 per cent moulded recycled paper” and a ‘‘Natural Cylinder’’ made from cardboard and pressed flowers.