From Grief to Growth: First-Ever Mushroom Casket Burial in North America Signals Cultural Shift

From Grief to Growth: First-Ever Mushroom Casket Burial in North America Signals Cultural Shift

In a forest clearing in Maine, a daughter’s farewell becomes a symbol of a regenerative future.

INDUSTRY, MAINE — June 2, 2025 — On a quiet hillside in rural Maine, artist Marsya Ancker will lay her father, Mark C. Ancker, to rest. But this burial, steeped in love and transformation, is a historic first: the first mushroom casket funeral ever held in North America.

For her father’s burial, Marsya selected the Loop Living Cocoon™ mushroom casket. Crafted entirely from mycelium — the root structure of mushrooms — the innovative casket is grown in just seven days and biodegrades completely within 45 days once buried, enriching the soil and nourishing new plant life.

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“My father always told me that he wanted to be buried in the woods on the property that he loved so much,” says Marsya Ancker. “He wanted his final resting place to nourish the land and plants he cherished.”

Since 2021, Loop Biotech’s Netherlands-based operation has facilitated thousands of mushroom casket burials across Europe, but the Maine service marks the first such burial in North America.

Green burial, which gained renewed attention in the 1990s, replaces traditional embalming chemicals, hardwood caskets, and synthetic linings with biodegradable materials that enable natural decomposition.

A Movement Growing from the Ground Up 

The nonprofit Green Burial Council, founded in 2005, has become the leading authority on environmentally conscious burial practices. The organization has documented remarkable growth in the green burial movement, seeing a 72% increase in demand from cemeteries for sustainable end-of-life options.

“The growth we’ve seen in green burial has been extraordinary, from just one provider in 2005 to over 470 cemeteries across the United States and Canada today,” says Emily Miller, Board member and Treasurer of the Green Burial Council “As awareness of the environmental impact of conventional burials and cremations increases, more people are seeking meaningful alternatives that honor both their loved ones and the earth.“

In the United States alone, conventional burials use an estimated 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid, 20 million board feet of hardwood, and 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete every year, according to the Green Burial Council.

Crafting a Regenerative Farewell

Loop Biotech, the Netherlands-based company behind the Living Cocoon™ mushroom casket, is part of a new wave of innovations designed to reverse environmental harm in the funeral industry — and reimagine how we say goodbye. 

“Funerals can be more than endings — they can be beginnings,” says Bob Hendrikx, founder of Loop Biotech. “We created the Loop Living Cocoon to offer a way for humans to enrich nature after death. It’s about leaving the world better than we found it.”

The Ancker Family’s service was supported by Wiles Remembrance Centers in Farmington, Maine, and carried out on private land in Industry, ME. The family chose to keep the ceremony small but hopes that by sharing the story, it might inspire others to consider more conscious, earth-friendly ways of saying goodbye.

“The Loop Living Cocoon makes it easy to create a beautiful place of remembrance,” says Marsya. “One that will bring joy and contemplation for generations to come.”

About Loop Biotech
Netherlands-based Loop Biotech transforms the global funeral industry with the Loop Living Cocoon™—a fully compostable casket grown from mushrooms that gives back to the earth. Strong and protective, it features no harmful chemicals while returning nutrients to the soil and turning every farewell into environmental healing. Soft, lightweight, and elegant, the casket facilitates natural decomposition of the body. Since 2021, the company has enabled over 2,500 burials across Europe. Loop products are Intertek certified for burial in traditional and green cemeteries as well as cremation. Visit Loop Biotech online to learn more and view their full product catalog.