A company in the United Kingdom that manufactures caskets has decided to respond to the growing green trend and build a environmentally friendly casket.  Hainsworth, a 225 year old company located in Yorkshire England, has decided to expand its wool product line and manufacture woolen caskets.  The new casket line, known as Hainsworth's Natural Legacy caskets are sturdy and can hold up to 825 pounds.  Most importantly, they are environmentally friendly.  No dyes or toxic chemicals are used in the manufacturing of the caskets.  The company plans to launch the new product in the United States as well.

According to the article in Time Magazine, "Certainly, the timing is good, as the popularity of green funerals in Britain is rapidly increasing. The Natural Death Center, based in Winchester in southern England, says the number of natural burial sites in the U.K. has grown from 54 to 260 in 10 years, at a pace of around 20 a year. And all those sites report that their annual burial rates are growing 30% a year. "That's feeding demand for eco-coffins," says Rosie Inman-Cook, the center's manager. Other green caskets are typically made from cardboard, wicker and even papier-mâché, but Tim Mahony, owner of the Mahony & Ward funeral home in Leeds, says the woolen coffins "have become accepted much faster than some of the other green types. They seem to fit the bill for what people want." Even if they have to pay extra for it. Retail prices for Hainsworth's woolen coffins range from $960 to $1,290, a bit more than the $800 average cost for a standard wooden coffin in Britain."