Circular design for funeral floristry
Designing out funeral waste for a circular economy
Casket/coffin tributes create a complicated waste problem for cemeteries.
In November, the SFN was fortunate to participate in a three-day CIRCO circular economy business design workshop hosted by Planet Ark’s ACE Hub (Australian Circular Economy Hub) at Melbourne’s RMIT University.
The immersive training session — which involved five organisations including the SFN — was only the second time the workshop had been run in Australia. The CIRCO circular business design methodology has been available in the Netherlands since 2015 and has trained more than 3000 companies across 19 hubs globally.
The SFN’s Rita Feldmann and SFN education and training advisor Anne Maree Montague from Melbourne Polytechnic attended the event to workshop a circular design solution for funeral flowers, with the objective of eliminating waste and pollution from the casket tribute equation.
Anne Maree from Melbourne Polytechnic and Rita from the SFN participating in the CIRCO training event.
Casket and coffin saddles present a complicated waste problem for cemeteries and those left to manage the waste.
In Australia, the SFN, along with educators from Melbourne Polytechnic, is part of a working group initiated by the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust to tackle floristry waste and pollution in cemeteries. Alongside the funeral industry, the floristry representatives are looking to the circular economy for solutions.
“Cemeteries are left to manage the floral design waste left behind after funerals, and this can create a range of waste management and pollution problems,” explains Rita. “Our goal with the funeral design solution is to see single-use plastics removed from the design process so cemeteries can easily divert green waste into a composting system and recover any associated materials.”
At present, the most popular design for funerals in many parts of the world consists of a long plastic tray or saddle containing floral foam that’s either taped on or held in a plastic cage. Because the plastic floral foam crumbles and intermingles with plant products, the final item must be sent to landfill. With around 120 000 funerals in Australia each year — nearly all of them including a floral tribute of some sort — the introduction of a circular design solution is essential.
Flowers used with floral foam cannot be composted due to plastic contamination from the fragmented foam.
Funeral tributes are frequently left on top of the grave where the plastic waste can make its way into the natural environment.
“The circular economy business design framework introduced through the CIRCO training program enabled us to workshop the proposed design solution as a functional circular business model. We felt greatly encouraged by the support and response shown by the CIRCO trainers and look forward to collaborating with other organisations to pilot the initiative,” says Rita.
The SFN would like to express their gratitude to Planet Ark for support with accessing the CIRCO program. CIRCO Training in Australia has been provided by Planet Ark, with support from the Circular Economy Business Innovations Centre, delivered by Sustainability Victoria, on behalf of the Victorian Government.
