A Dutch company is providing a dignified farewell for the dead with biodegradable mattresses for coffins.

Lydia de Paus, the founder of Mollis Lectus which means a soft bed in Latin, came up with the idea after the death of a friend.

"There was a nice pillow (in the coffin), but no mattress," she said "it made me think that all people should be able to lie on a mattress with dignity."

The company provides the mattresses to undertakers in the Netherlands and is in negotiations to ship them to partners in England.