Banana coffins make a killing in the US

Denver: Casket makers catering to natural burials have offered biodegradable coffins made of such materials as recycled newspapers or cardboard. Ecoffins USA, based in Montrose, Colorado, is selling caskets made of banana sheaves.

They take six months to two years to biodegrade.

Marketing director Joanna Passarelli says the company sold $40,000 worth of banana-sheaf or bamboo coffins to funeral homes last year.

At least 14 funeral homes around the United States offer them.

In natural burials, bodies aren't embalmed and eventually decompose into the earth.

Ecoffins USA is the sister company of the SAWD Partnership, which has helped fuel the "green" funeral movement in the United Kingdom.