Today's funeral practices are unsustainable, toxic, and polluting. Both cremation and the manufacture and transport of caskets, grave liners, and headstones emit greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In fact, the very last thing that most of us will do on this earth is poison it. As a response, a system and method called recomposition that gently and naturally returns humans to the earth after death.

Today's funeral practices are unsustainable, toxic, and polluting. Both cremation and the manufacture and transport of caskets, grave liners, and headstones emit greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In fact, the very last thing that most of us will do on this earth is poison it. As a response, a system and method called recomposition that gently and naturally returns humans to the earth after death.

Systems for cremating a body. The system includes a box assembly and a vessel. The box assembly is for storing the body or a portion of a body. The box assembly includes a box defining a box cavity, a bottom end, a top end, and at least one side wall extending from the bottom end to the top end. The box assembly also includes an air conditioner disposed in the box cavity. The air conditioner is configured to control a temperature level or a humidity level in the box cavity. The vessel is coupled to the at least one side wall of the box. The vessel includes insect larvae that self-harvest, exit the vessel, and enter the box assembly to decompose the body or the portion of the body stored in the box assembly.

A casket comprising a mechanism for changing an elevation of a bed of the casket, the mechanism including a first rod, a second rod, and a planar member, the first rod, the second rod, and the planar member are all made of combustible material.

A second embodiment is a funerary tray that includes a bottom wall, side walls, and end walls. The bottom wall is formed at least in part from a rigid first material and defines a length and a width. Each of the side walls extends substantially vertically upward from long edges of the bottom wall. Each of the end walls extends substantially vertically upward from short edges of the bottom wall, such that the bottom wall, side walls, and end walls form a tray having a length and width configured to receive an adult human body. The first side wall has a side wall length that is substantially the length of the tray, and includes a rigid section extending a first length that is less than the side wall length, and at least a first corrugated fiberboard section having a second length that is less that the side wall length.

The invention provides a flat-pack coffin made of environmentally friendly materials, the coffin comprising a lid, left- and right-hand side panels, head and foot end panels and a base assembly, wherein each right- and left-hand side panel independently has a top edge, a bottom edge, a head end edge and a foot end edge, each side panel independently being provided with a plurality of downwardly extending locking protrusions on the bottom edge for insertion into the base assembly and a slot on each end edge for accepting a connector from an end panel; wherein each foot and head end panel independently has a top edge, a bottom edge, an interior face and an exterior face, each end panel independently being provided with a plurality of downwardly extending protrusions on the bottom edge for insertion into the base assembly and connectors on the interior face for insertion into the slots in the side panels so as to secure the end panels to the side panels; and wherein the base assembly comprises a layer of base slats, and a padded layer on top of the base slat layer to form a resting surface for a corpse, wherein the resting surface has upstanding edges defining a rim around the perimeter thereof, the rim having a first plurality of apertures for accepting the downwardly extending protrusions of the end panels and a second plurality of apertures for accepting the locking protrusions of the side panels so as to secure the side panels to the base assembly.

A method of protecting animal tissue particularly skin, from damage caused by radiation exposure, by contacting the tissue with a ketone ester, a method of protecting skin, reducing the deterioration of skin or maintaining or improving the properties of skin by applying topically to the skin a ketone body comprising (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate moieties is disclosed. A ketone body comprising (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate moieties, especially enantiomerically enriched R-1,3-hydroxybutyl-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate, for such uses is also provided.

A method of protecting animal tissue particularly skin, from damage caused by radiation exposure, by contacting the tissue with a ketone ester, a method of protecting skin, reducing the deterioration of skin or maintaining or improving the properties of skin by applying topically to the skin a ketone body comprising (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate moieties is disclosed. A ketone body comprising (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate moieties, especially enantiomerically enriched R-1,3-hydroxybutyl-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate, for such uses is also provided.

Today's funeral practices are unsustainable, toxic, and polluting. Both cremation and the manufacture and transport of caskets, grave liners, and headstones emit greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In fact, the very last thing that most of us will do on this earth is poison it. As a response, a system and method called recomposition that gently and naturally returns humans to the earth after death.

Today's funeral practices are unsustainable, toxic, and polluting. Both cremation and the manufacture and transport of caskets, grave liners, and headstones emit greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In fact, the very last thing that most of us will do on this earth is poison it. As a response, a system and method called recomposition that gently and naturally returns humans to the earth after death.