Be environmentally 'conscious' even after death

Think harsh embalming chemicals, coffin materials, carbon dioxide emissions from cremation, and so on. But Coeio is going further than just biodegradable caskets: The startup came up with a “death suit” to help a body's decomposition. There’s even a version, which is more like a sack, for people's pets. 

Basically, the suit is laced with spores of what the company has coined “infinity mushrooms.” According to the website, this will be “a unique strain(s) of fungi that will be trained to decompose bodies and remediate the industrial toxins in bodies.” Starting off the project with shiitake and oyster varieties, Lee has been feeding the fungi bits of her own body to encourage them to start using human tissue as an energy source. Those body parts include hair, nails, skin, among others.

The idea is that the mushrooms break down any nasties that have made their way into and accumulated within the body, which we don’t want to go back into the environment. As a consequence, mushrooms have been shown to break down oil and even plastic.

While the death suit was first announced five years ago during a TED talk, TakePart reports that it is due to be made available this summer, with the pet option arriving slightly earlier in March. Its price will be about $999.