There's now a way to live on even after death.
Bios Urn is a biodegradable plant pot, made from cellulose and natural fibres, that uses your ashes to nurture the growth of a new tree.
It can be buried next to an existing tree to assist its growth, planted in the ground with a sapling to form a new tree or planted in a pot so the tree can be easily moved around.
We're sold.
So far, the biodegradable urn comes with either a Pine, Maple, Rowan or Birch Seed - perfect for British weather.
The seed can be germinated indoors over winter to give it the chance to grow into a healthy sapling. Then, when it's big enough, it can be planted with the Bios Urn.
How it works:
- Place the ashes into the urns lower section (your funeral director or crematorium can do this for you). Close this with the top section, place soil, fertiliser and the sapling inside.
- Bury the urn in fertile soil with its top level with the soils surface and water it.
- In a few days your tree will start to grow.
- The tree will continue to grow, year after year, forming a beautiful memorial tree.
SEE ALSO:
These People Will Preserve Your Tattoos When You Die...
What To Say To Someone When Their Pet Dies
Why Does It Take Heartbreak for Us to Fully Appreciate Our Loved Ones?
The urn is stocked in the UK by Paul and Cheryl Yarwood from Secure Haven. They were inspired to launch their business after finding there weren't any "respectful options" for storing a person's ashes after death.
This was made apparent following the passing of Paul's mother, whose ashes were left at the funeral directors for two years because his father had requested that their ashes be scattered together when he died.
"He was already ill at the time and because, as a family, we couldn’t decide who should take mum’s ashes in the meantime, they were just left in an ordinary store cupboard at the funeral parlour for the two years it took us to decide what we wanted to do," says Paul.
"All that time, I felt guilty that we had just abandoned mum. It was a journey none of us wanted to make."
When his father passed away, the couple say they felt "pressured" to collect Paul's parents' ashes.
"We stored them secretly at home away from the knowledge of our children, who had already suffered enough. It was quite sometime later that we had the courage to lay them to rest, together, along the coast at Eastbourne.
"During this very difficult period of our lives there simply wasn't a more respectful alternative available to us."
For those who aren't keen on becoming a tree, the couple sells ash jewellery too.
[H/T Metro]