African Woman and Child Feature Service

Kenyans are likely from next month to start burying their dead in coffins made from corrugated cardboards or cartons following a local company decision to invest in this venture.

The first samples of such coffins, the Eco Jeneza, have already been made and are on display in some major coffin outlets in the city.

The coffin manufacturer, East African Packaging Industries (EAPI) Limited, says the coffins are going to be made from cast-off materials, reducing wastages and creating more jobs.

People involved in collecting and selling used corrugated cartons or paper for recycling purposes are likely to be the biggest beneficiary once production of these coffins starts.

Meshack Dwallow, the EAPI’s Sales and Marketing Manager is upbeat that the coffins are not only going to contribute to environmental conservation; but will be cost-effective and portable as well.

He says the coffins will come in different sizes of small, medium and large, with the prices ranging from Sh 2,500 to Sh 10,000.

A coffin that will go for Sh 2,500 will be equivalent to the timber one costing about Sh 5,000. Brown in colour, the coffin will bear special features that make it glossy and comfortable.

Once production starts and demand picks up, the company plans to buy a machine to make coffins based on customer’s specifications of desired graphics and colours.

Currently in North America, Western Europe and South Africa where these coffins are in use, they have special customized features such a piano if the person was a musician; a gun, if he or she was a soldier, or cartoons drawing, if it is a child.

Advertisement on fashionable coffins is big business in countries such as Britain and Australia where they are dubbed as Eco-death news. Every month, new designs of cardboard coffins are made and advertised on television or internet to win new buyers.But going by the views of Kenyans, it is not going to be easy for EAPI to get the locals, who for ages have been used to burying their loved ones in timber coffins, to make a radical shift to the cardboard coffins.

“I think this is one of the things that I am going to take a long time to believe. For now, let me continue using the timber coffins,” said Judy Waithera, of Ongata Rongai estate.

“With such coffins, the possibilities of them snapping and the dead person falling are very high. Spare me that embarrassment and the dignity of the dead,” added James Arako, a resident of Maringo estate.

These are just a few of the scepticisms the EAPI will have to confront to convince Kenyans to buy their cardboard coffins.

EAPI is planning to lean on studies and successful experiences in countries where these coffins are widely used to make Kenyans embrace the idea.

Studies in these countries show such coffins to be highly biodegradable, to produce less carbon emissions, and to use half the materials used to make the usual timber coffins.

Cremation of bodies in cardboard coffins has been found to use less fuel compared to the bodies in timber or iron coffins.

Likewise, environmentalists argue that such coffins do not have toxins, resins and glues that seep in the ground resulting in pollution like the conventional coffins.

The heavy grammage paper to be used in making the Eco-Jeneza is recycled paper of timber cut from planned tree plantations that have a reforestation plan, earning them the name eco-friendly.

“Eco-Jeneza represents the latest understanding of the connection to our planet while continuing time-honoured traditions. So honour the life of a cherished one by honouring and cherishing the planet that held that life,” says EAPI in a statement about the coffin.

The company hopes the introduction of the coffins will reduce the demand on the indigenous trees currently preferred for making timber coffins.

Families of the bereaved or coffin vendors in the rural and other areas outside Nairobi can buy and transport them from the city easily since they are foldable.

But what prompted the EAPI to think about cardboard coffins?

“One and half year’s ago we realised that making of cardboard coffins in other parts of the world was a success story, and with EAPI’s ability to produce corrugated cardboards, we decided to give it a try,” says Dwallow.

Last year, the company made a sample of the coffin, which it gave to selected coffin vendors to display and hear public views on the new way of burying their loved ones.

So far, one of the recurring questions from the public is the amount of weight the coffin can hold without falling apart. EAPI says its coffins can comfortable carry a person weighing upto 120 kilograms without possibilities of snapping.

At the moment EAPI has crossed its fingers hoping Kenyans will buy into the idea of cardboard coffins. If people accept the coffins, the company plans to manufacture 5,000 pieces every week to meet any demand within and outside Kenya.

“Dealing with the conservatism about the timber coffins is going to be the major challenge for EAPI,” says Dwallow. “Burying someone in a cardboard coffin should however not been seen as disrespect to the dead.”

To reduce this resistance; the company has initiated talks with church leaders, politicians, coffins vendors, morgue owners, and other opinion leaders to use them in vouching for the coffin.