Human composting? ‘Greener’ alternative to burials and cremation gains steam across US

What should become of the body after death? Everyone has a choice to make about their own.

Some people wish to be buried, while others prefer cremation.

Alternatively, some people may desire a “greener” method — such as converting their bodies into soil packed with nutrients.

It’s just like composting, but it involves naturally breaking down the bodies of people who’ve died instead of organic materials like leaves or banana peels.

A bill to legalize human composting, or “natural organic reduction,” has been introduced in Rhode Island by state Rep. Michelle McGaw who said some residents want the option, according to a March 6 news release from the state legislature.

“Not everyone is comfortable with the impact of burial, which occupies land, or cremation, which emits a significant amount of carbon,” McGaw said in a statement. “Natural organic reduction is a greener alternative that may be preferable for those concerned about how their final wishes affect the planet.”

Human composting is gaining traction in the U.S. and was first legalized in Washington in 2019, according to the news release. It’s also legal in California, Colorado, New York, Oregon and Vermont, according to Recompose, the world’s first human composting company based in Seattle.

Prior to McGaw’s push for the method in Rhode Island, Massachusetts state Rep. Jack Lewis and Rep. Natalie Higgins introduced a bill to allow human composting, Recompose reports.

“For people who have respected the earth and tried to lighten their impact on it in life, it makes sense to also want to take the greenest, most environmentally beneficial route in death,” McGaw said.

How does human composting work?

If human composting is legalized in Rhode Island, the state Department of Health would regulate the facilities doing it, according to the release.

It involves putting organic materials and the body of a person who died inside a vessel to help with the natural decomposition process, the release said.

The process is “powered” by microorganisms, or microbes, according to Recompose.

At Recompose’s facility, employees add wood chips, alfalfa and straw to the vessel with a person’s body to help break it down, the company explains. Then, the vessel is shut for roughly four to seven weeks.

The vessels are maintained at a temperature of about 130 to 160 degrees and are “blended,” according to the Rhode Island legislature’s release. This transforms the vessel’s contents into a cubic yard of soil rich with nutrients.

Recompose says its facility cures the soil outside of the vessel for a few more weeks after the blending process.

What comes next is another matter of personal preference and may depend on where the composting occurred.

If the bill in Rhode Island is passed, the soil would need a final destination, such as a garden, a grave or in the property of the family of the dead, according to the release.

If the soil is placed outside, such as in a forest or along conservation land, it can benefit those areas by helping create new life, according to Recompose.

Ultimately, human composting is meant to have less of an environmental impact on the earth.

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