CHINESE coffin-makers may be coming to Kent to meet the growing demand for a greener way of death.

Award-winning Sittingbourne firm The SAWD Partnership, the UK's sole importer of bamboo coffins, has a half stake in a Chinese business employing 25-30 part-time craftsmen making coffins in a disused primary school.

Now it is thinking of importing the people as well as the coffins.

After establishing bamboo coffins as a cheaper and more eco-friendly alternative to chipboard, company founder William Wainman is looking to diversify the company's product range.

Mr Wainman is considering making chestnut coffins from coppiced woodland in Kent. But domestic labour costs would make this prohibitive.

To keep costs down, Mr Wainman, whose wife Lucy is Chinese, would invite Chinese craftsmen to come to Sittingbourne.

But it's not just a question of cost. They would also have the skills unlikely to be found in the Kentish workforce.

"If we decide to diversify, I would invite Chinese craftsmen to come over to Sittingbourne for trips of between three and six months," he said.

Willow coffins are another source of potential growth. He is teaming up with an Eastern European basketmaker and hopes that sales of willow coffins and caskets will soon make up more than 10 per cent of turnover.

SAWD was named Best Coffin Manufacturer in the UK in the Natural Death Handbook Awards. The trophy will be presented at a special ceremony in London in April.

Sales of bamboo coffins have soared from a dozen in 2000 to an estimated 12 container-loads -- more than 1,000 -- this year. Mr Wainman believes he is on course to sell more than 3,000 this year.

That's still only a tiny slice of the UK market, less than one per cent, but Mr Wainman is confident that there is the potential to take it up to five per cent.

Turnover has risen four-fold as SAWD has tapped growing demand for more environmentally-friendly exits from this world.

Bamboo coffins have been used in cremation as well as natural woodland burial.

Cost is also a factor. A typical adult coffin costs £195 while a child's is just £50-much lower than the typical £500 for a chipboard coffin.

Mr Wainman says the bamboo, which can be fully decorated with flowers, biodegrades in up to eight months depending on soil conditions. It also "compacts" quickly, an issue for some cemeteries.

Mr Wainman sees potential in overseas markets too. There is growing interest in Australia, where he is considering an agency arrangement with a company.

But, curiously, there is no demand from the country where the coffins are made. For all their love of bamboo, the Chinese just don't want to bow out encased in it.

Mr Wainman explains: "All the Chinese I know like to use their funeral as a display, showing off what the person has achieved in their life. The main way they can do that is by having a very expensive coffin."