Adapted extract from a letter to The Natural Death Centre from Barbara Butler of Green Undertakings, who supply the public with all the necessary items for family-organised funerals - everything from cardboard coffins to lowering webbing.
For the carrying of bodies in bodybags, I am getting some stretcher canvases made - these will take handles no longer than the stretcher, so that everything can go into a normal sized grave. It looks as though the stretchers will cost about £18. They could be useful for 'd-i-y' and 'green site' burials, and will be completely biodegradable of course.
Green Undertakings, Belmont, Brendon Road, Watchet TA23 OAX (tel 01984 632285 telefax; or, in emergencies, 01984 631156).