Cremate Loved Ones and Plant a Tree: Burial Pod

Nowadays, burial and cremation have become a big problem as the cost of cemeteries and cremations have gone a little up. This unique burial pod is not only a sustainable solution to the huge costs and land availability but also preserves the memory of your closed ones by nourishing the remains into a tree.

Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel, Italian designers have given a very unique solution and they have named it as Capsula Mundi. In Latin, it means “world’s capsule.”

This is an organic casket which resembles an egg in shape and is suitable for ashes also.

When someone is buried, the breaking down of biodegradable plastic occurs. Then, the remains give nutrients to the planted sapling placed right above it. The ultimate goal is to make cemeteries full of trees instead of tombstones on it. This idea will definitely reduce waste and make out a new life after death. There will be a launch of the very first version of the product specially designed for only ashes. Then, there will be an introduction to the next model suitable for bodies that will be encapsulated in the fetal position.

The bioplastic is first broken down by the bacteria in the soil. After that, the ashes come in contact with the soil without altering its chemical balance. Some crematoriums have established mercury filters as the older dental filling on the top of soil release polluting mercury. Capsula Mundi is a green solution which is supported by all the scientific researches and moreover, environmental awareness is also cutting down all the cultural barriers related to burials.

Traditional burial systems have lots of problem with them as traditional caskets are hundreds of pounds of metal, wood and everything cushioning goes inside. The enclosure that blocks each casket from the elements i.e. the burial vaults can be around 3,000 pounds of cement and also steel sometimes. For the embalming process to be carried out, it takes around one gallon of fluid per 50 pounds of body. Now, add all this up and you have collected around two tons of material per body. Also, some gallons of occasionally hallucinogenic embalming juice which is chilling in the earth is gathered.

As more and more land is getting scarce, there is a high need for the alternate systems and also a burial pod is a great step in this direction.

Spiritree also invented a similar solution to it. They made use of the biodegradable funerary urn that changes into a living memorial in front of a tree. When it is placed in the ground, the bottom shell of the Spiritree places the cremated remains within its internal concavity. In order to shield the cremated remains from the dispersion and promotes biodegradation and water absorption by providing a porous ceramic cover. The near-acidic composition of a young tree, a sapling, a seedling, or even a seed neutralizes the natural alkalinity of the cremated remains. But when these are planted along with the Spiritree, the calcium-rich cremated remains and the decomposing biodegradable bottom shell feeds the growing plant. In this meantime, the growing tree breaks the protective ceramic shell and it gets converted into a living memorial to the loved one’s memory.