By: Sarah Johnson
This week we’ll take a look at a super interesting legislative trend relating to what you can do with your body after you die. Seven states, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon, and Vermont, have introduced legislation this year relating to human composting or “natural organic reduction”. Let’s look into what this is and what these states are looking to do!
What is “Natural Organic Reduction”
Natural organic reduction, or human composting, is an emerging, more environmentally sustainable form of deathcare. What is “deathcare” you may ask. Deathcare is defined as “of, relating to, or providing products or services for the burial or cremation of the dead”. Common forms of deathcare we are used to seeing are being embalmed and buried or cremated. Burial can be problematic as embalming fluids can leach into groundwater and coffins use up natural resources. Cremation is done via burning fuels – the process emits carbon dioxide and particulates into the atmosphere. Around the world, there is a desire for more eco-friendly alternative burial options – queue natural organic reduction or “human composting”.
Natural organic reduction is a more “sustainable” method of disposing of your body after you pass on. Recompose, a company in Seattle, is trailblazing natural organic reduction in the United States as the first human composting funeral home in the nation. Katrina Spade, Founder & CEO, invented a system to transform the dead into soil while earning her Masters of Architecture. Recompose’s process, called natural organic reduction, dramatically speeds up decomposition. The process is started via the “laying-in” when they place a corpse in a steel, reusable hexagonal container accompanied with straw, wood chips, and alfalfa. By carefully controlling the ratio of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen and humidity, they can convert bodies into roughly two wheelbarrows’ worth of soil in about thirty days. This ecosystem fabricates the perfect conditions for a class of thermophilic (heat-loving) microbes, which accelerate the normal rate of decomposition.
There are low levels of coliform bacteria, an indicator of biological safety, found in the soil. This means that the soil could be used to grow plants or vegetables, or spread in nature like ashes safely. Recompose states that for every person who chooses natural organic reduction over conventional burial or cremation, a total of between .84 and 1.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide is prevented from entering or is removed from the atmosphere. This method uses about 1/8 the energy of conventional burial or cremation.
Proposed Legislation
Over the years there have been different bills proposed related to natural organic reduction or human composting in states ranging from Hawaii to Washington to Colorado to New York to Delaware. In 2019, Washington became the first state in the United States to legalize national organic reduction. The law took effect May 1, 2020 and made it legal to compost human remains as well as use a practice called water cremation.
Colorado’s bill, the Human Remains Natural Reduction Soil law, was signed by Governor Polis earlier this month. “The bill authorizes human remains to be converted to soil using a container that accelerates the process of biological decomposition, also known as natural reduction.” The bill does not, however, allow for the soil of multiple people to be combined without consent, for the soil to be sold, or for the soil to be used to grow food for human consumption.
Maine proposed legislation to “allow Green Death Care Practices by Alkaline Hydrolysis and Natural Organic Reduction”, but it failed. It defines “alkaline hydrolysis” as the reduction of human remains to bone fragments and essential elements in a licensed alkaline hydrolysis facility using heat, pressure, water and base chemical agents and natural organic reduction is the contained accelerated conversion of human remains to soil.
Oregon’s bill, which crossed over in April, would allow bodies to be disposed of by “alternative processes”, including natural organic reduction. It also clarifies rules surrounding alkaline hydrolysis, known as aqua cremation, and extends other funeral industry privileges and responsibilities to include natural organic reduction.
A few other states, California, Delaware, Hawaii, New York, and Vermont, proposed legislation this year, but all their bills are still in committee.
This form of deathcare is particularly intriguing to me. I have never liked the idea of being buried, and was aware that cremation is not as echo friendly as many of us think. It is exciting to see new, more sustainable ways of disposing of bodies that leave room for growth and beauty afterwards.
Cover Photo by Andrew Small on Unsplash
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