An Eco-Friendly Funeral in Just a Shroud: Is It Possible or Not? A Debate in Ekonews.
Oleg Vojtíšek, the founder of the company Pohřební průvodci, is convinced that it is legal to bury a body in the ground in the Czech Republic even without a coffin.
According to him, the solution is to dig a shallow underground wooden tomb instead of a grave, reinforce it with planks, and seal it with a solid slab of hardwood. The body, wrapped in a shawl made of natural materials, is then placed inside.
According to the ministry, there is nothing preventing a burial without a coffin.
For two years now, this ministry has had a working group dedicated to so-called “green funerals.” The ministry recently presented the results of its work to the regional public health offices. It sees no legal obstacle in the law to the storage of bodies without coffins.
According to Jiří Královec, spokesperson for the Prague Cemeteries and Funeral Services, regulations for the “Louky vzpomínek” cemetery are currently being drafted, and there is a lively debate surrounding them. “However, no responsible cemetery administrator would rush into this (the option without a coffin, author’s note) a priori. A stamp of approval from the Ministry of Regional Development won’t be enough; other authorities have a great deal of specific jurisdiction over funeral services, and one of them is the public health department,” says Královec.
According to him, the outcome of the negotiations will most likely be that people will begin to be buried in wooden coffins in the meadow.