Bottom Line: By promoting "green burials" Colorful Coffins has diverted 827,090 gallons of embalming fluid, 180,544,000 pounds of steel, 5,400,000 pounds of copper, 30,000,000 feet of hard woods, and 3,272,000,000 from the earth and saved clients $400-$2,500 in casket costs per funeral.
Jane Hillhouse's dream of starting a green coffin and burial business in San Mateo County has hit a few snags along the way. A native of the UK, Jane was exposed early on to the concept of green burials and the toxic effects of traditional burial on the Earth's ecosystem. There are over 250 green burial sites in England, and less than 24 in the United States.
Jane has made it her mission to educate her community on home funerals and green burials sites. The biggest challenge she's facing seems to be cultural attitude towards funerals. "The whole problem is people don't want to talk about death," says Jane. "If people would just plan ahead and participate in the burial process, grieving becomes much easier."
Green burials cost much less than traditional ones. Jane's coffins, made primarily of wood and cardboard, run around $1,000; while traditional caskets can be as much as $3,500. The savings aren't just monetary either - green burial cuts out the toxic embalming fluids, steel, copper, and hard wood that come with a traditional burial. Green burial sites are un-landscaped, naturally beautiful woodlands and meadows where the deceased are buried in random order with only some natural vegetation or stone to mark the grave.
Jane's business is currently operating as Colorful Coffins, but is set to re-launch in the beginning of 2009 under the name Final Footprint.
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