A 93-year-old grandmother who passed away in Singapore on March 3 night was laid to rest in a coffin made of corrugated paper.

The wake, a Buddhist ceremony decorated with the late woman's favourite flowers and pictures painted by her great-granddaughter, was held at Hougang Avenue 6.

However, what was different about the wake was the use of a light brown coffin containing the body of the deceased.

It was not made of wood but corrugated paper.

Corrugated paper properties

Corrugated paper is a material used in paper packaging boxes.

It is lighter and harder than wood, but it is easy to cut into different sizes and can also be printed with different colour designs with text on the outside.

Shin Min Daily News reported that the family decided to use a paper coffin after discussing it.

"The elders all agreed with this approach, and an uncle even participated in the design," the grandson-in-law, Zeng Weiming (transliteration), 40, said.

This arrangement allowed those who wanted to leave farewell messages the chance to do so directly on the coffin by writing and drawing on it.

It would have been difficult to do so otherwise if the coffin was wooden.

Paper coffins have also been touted as being environmentally friendly and allow for customisation of their design.

The family printed "swastika" or "manji" characters ("卍") on the paper coffin, as well as 38 flower patterns that their late great-grandmother liked.

It was revealed the deceased had picked out her own funeral photos.

Costs as little as S$300

Shin Min spoke to the funeral director of Unity Casket Funeral Planner, who said there have been about five funerals a month that use paper coffins.

It was also revealed that corrugated paper coffins emerged due to the pandemic, where border restrictions saw supply disruptions to certain materials to make coffins.

This led to a search for materials other than wood to make coffins.

Wooden coffins are suitable for burial, it was reported, while paper coffins can reduce the cremation time by about 30 minutes.

The most basic paper coffin design costs S$300, while the more elaborate ones cost about S$600, which is the price of a basic wooden coffin.

The process of making paper coffins is currently the same as that of making wooden coffins, which is done by hand.

Top photos via Shin Min