27 September 2022

Living Memorial’s Simon Holden on compassion, innovation, and keeping the SDGs at the heart of business strategy

CEO of Living Memorial Simon Holden is fostering challenging but necessary conversations about the environmental effects of burials. He introduced the Living Memorial soil blend to the UK as he believes that sustainability should have a place in the funeral industry.

Simon talks about the mission of educating people on the detrimental effects of ashes for soil, the SDGs that Living Memorial is founded on, and the inspiration his dad means to him day by day.

ESGmark®: Tell us more about the Living Memorial product as this is an area not many people know about.

Simon Holden (SH): Living Memorial soil blend is scientifically proven to solve the issue of toxicity present in human and pet cremated remains. The two main problems that prevent plants from flourishing when in contact with cremation ashes are the high pH and the high Sodium content. Normal soil or compost can do nothing to solve that problem – but the Living Memorial soil blend is specifically formulated – and scientifically proven - to balance the pH and reduce the effect of the Sodium.

As the cremated remains are broken down more of the beneficial nutrients locked inside are released, allowing the growing plant to flourish.

The cremated remains actively engage with the blended soil, they are not kept separately from it.

ESGmark®: It came as a real surprise to us that cremated remains are so bad for the environment, but having spoken to you about it, it seems so obvious! How do customers and potential customers respond to your educational outreach?

SH: Culturally, we don’t talk about death and dying and so these new messages can be hard to discuss.

Most people understand quite quickly and appreciate that we are based in science. For some, it’s a harder leap, as they may have spent many years believing that ‘ashes’ are beneficial to soil. The confusion comes because cremated remains aren’t really ashes at all, they are bone – more like fossils.

Our customers are really happy to discover there is a way to create a beautiful memorial that will thrive. We always enjoy hearing from them and sharing their feedback.

ESGmark®: Natural Transition have started to calculate your greenhouse gas emissions - has that led to any key learnings or surprises?

SH: Our procedures are thankfully quite low emission to begin with, so the real learning has been from our suppliers. Some of the issues are quite hard to work out, currently we make trips to the post office in a car, arranged around planned journeys. As we scale up, we’ve had to assess if a courier company offers better or worse emissions.

Our packaging has been the biggest change. We wanted something that could contain the blended soil without needing another layer of packaging. We also wanted it to be recyclable in curb side collections, or re-useable. Our steel tins have covered all of these and been a pleasant surprise.

ESGmark®: You've pledged to put the common good of customers and society at the forefront of your organisation - how does that translate into your everyday business decisions?

SH: My dad used to say that the more money a business makes, the more good it can do. It’s become a defining idea for me. We want to make sure that we do good, that our product is effective and fairly priced, that we support our staff in their development and are able to go on and make more innovations.

Day to day it can be less philosophical. We use the SDGs to help guide us, and then always strive to improve in small increments. It’s important to listen to all our team, whatever their role. We also really value customer feedback, which we request and share as much as possible.

ESGmark®: Tell us more about the Sustainable Development Goals you have chosen to align with your sustainability KPIs?

SH: The main two SDGs we feel align with our business are #12 Responsible Consumption & Production and #15 Life on Land.

Life on Land is really our main reason for bringing Living Memorial blended soil to market. We want to protect the earth from cremated remains as far and wide as possible. This also inspires our education campaign, to bring the research into the public domain and start conversations about cremation and its impact.

For Responsible Consumption we have worked hard to find a curb side recyclable option for our packaging, which can also be reused first.

ESGmark®: Where do you see Living Memorial in the next 5 years?

SH: We aim to grow both our 1:1 customer sales, and our wholesale offer to crematoria in the UK and Europe.

In five years' time I’d like our blended soil to be used in all cremation interments. Protecting our soil is a key part of any climate security plan and we hope to be at the forefront of that.

ESGmark®: What challenges do you see facing ethical companies in the next 2 years?

SH: As more and more businesses recognise the urgency of the climate crisis; they will begin to look for changes. The challenge for truly ethical companies will be standing out in a potentially crowded market, especially if the levels of greenwashing continue.

I was glad to see that the Green Claims Code is being used to challenge some of the big companies and their misleading claims.

ESGmark®: Who is your biggest business inspiration?

SH: I’ve always been very influenced by my Dad, he had a quiet determination and valued actions over words. He taught me about the importance of native species and to see ‘beauty’ in the less obvious. I sometimes feel like James Dyson, very focused on an idea I know to be good. Like him, I’ve had to plough forward with a product despite being told it’ll never work. Hopefully, we’ll be as successful too!

ESGmark®: What are you reading at the moment?

SH: I’ve just finished Hollow Places by Christopher Hadley, and about to start Back to Nature by Chris Packham. Those are ‘work’ readings, for fiction I’m in the middle of Alice by Christina Henry – it’s very dark…

For more on Living Memorial, head over to their website.

Speaking to our members is central to keeping the ESGmark® community connected - read our other interviews with Richard Irving Facilities management on the importance of cross-sector collaboration, Green Glamour on fashion rental, or Dandelion on holistic branding.