Organic Burial Pods Turn Your Body into a Tree When You Die

Instead of visiting a graveyard to remember a loved one, think of visiting a forest. That may just be possible, thanks to a new burial method developed in Italy. The Capsula Mundi project, created by designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel, involves encapsuling a person's remains in order to fertilize a tree that will act as a memorial to that person.

The project itself promotes the idea of green cemetaries. Instead of using wooden coffins and wasting materials on tombstones, people could instead opt to become part of a grove of trees. Loved ones could then visit a forest and tend to the tree growing from a person's remains rather than visiting rows of tombstones.

Cemetaries, in general, tend to take up a lot of space. And while there's usually grass and some other vegetation, it's still a lot of land being devoted to grave markers. With this latest project, though, the creators envision forests that could be more environmentally friendly and more visually appealing to loved ones.

The burial method works by placing the body into the fetus position in an egg-like container made of starch plastic, which is biodegradable. This capsule is then planted like a seed in the soil, and a tree, which is chosen when the person is still alive, is planted on top of it. As the tree's roots grow, it takes nutrients from the body.

While this concept may seem ideal, though, current laws in Italy forbid this type of burial. Only wood can be used to make coffins currently. That said, the project is now aiming to change this legislation so that in the future, people might be visiting forests rather than cemetaries to remember their loved ones.

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