A large lightweight molded coffin comprises a large pulp molded outer shell (17) lined with a reinforcing spacer material(18)such as single faced ReBoardTM, a honeycomb structure or a molded spacer material conforming to and adhering to said shell and an inner shell(19)made of molded pulp or a paper based material. A method for manufacturing such a lightweight coffin involves pressing slurried pulp between a first male mold half (5) covered with elastomeric material (6) and a second female mold half (3), to form the molded pulp shell (17),and gluing the reinforcing spacer (18) material to the interior of said outer molded pulp shell (17)and the inner shell.