Washington Could Become the First State To Compost the Dead (nbcnews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Washington could become the first state to embrace another funerary practice by making it legal to compost the dead. The method is called "recomposing" and claims to be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than traditional burial or cremation. It involves rapidly decomposing a body and converting the remains into soil. That nutrient-rich material can then be used to grow trees, flowers, and other new life. The alternative practice hinges on a bill that state senator Jamie Pedersen plans to introduce next month, according to NBC. It would legalize recomposing in Washington where burial and cremation are currently the only acceptable ways to dispose of human remains. A public-benefit corporation, Recompose, is responsible for the actual composting. "The transformation of human to soil happens inside our reusable, hexagonal recomposition vessels," Recompose states in an FAQ. "When the process has finished, families will be able to take home some of the soil created, while gardens on-site will remind us that all of life is interconnected."

"The process utilizes a 5-foot-by-10-foot pod full of organic 'tinder' such as straw and wood chips," reports Motherboard. "Thermophilic or heat-loving microbes then metabolize the remains, maintaining an internal temperature of 131 degrees Fahrenheit within the vessel. The entire ritual takes one month, and produces a cubic yard of compost, according to Recompose." Non-organic materials such as artificial hips will be screened for and recycled, and people will certain illnesses may be ineligible since some pathogens may be resistant to the composting process.

Comments

Easier way to handle this...

[CrimsonAvenger]

...we've already got landfills. Just toss the body into a landfill, and done!

That said, I'm not actually opposed to the idea. But I expect the lawsuits wrapped around the first case where the family can't agree on method of disposal will make this a very unpopular option....

Re:Easier way to handle this...

[jwhyche]

I fail to see a problem with this. My daughter keeps saying when I go she is going put my remains in a large garbage bag and leave me by the curb.

Joking aside, I've never understood the desire to pump dead people full of chemicals so the don't decay, then dump them in a hole in a air tight box. What is the point. An all that space taken up by graveyards. I've made it clear that I'm to be cremated and my ashes used to line the cat box. Might as well get one more use out of my dead ass.

Re:Easier way to handle this...

[JackieBrown]

It's a way of respecting the dead. Not that the dead care, since they are dead, but it is one of the few things we as the living can do to feel like we are helping them.

I still want to upgrade the headstone on my wife's grave to something that stands out to honor her. That said, she doesn't care and the money would be better spent doing a donation in her name or something similar to that.

Doesn't go far enough

[Anonymous Coward]

We need to be able to vote on the living that need to be added to the mix!

Really? Composting reactors?

[drinkypoo]

Why not just find a hill, dig a hole, throw the person in upside down and plant a tree in their arsehole? We need more trees anyway.

That's a better use of land

[pr0t0]

I think it would be great if we could replace cemeteries with forests. For each body, a small hole is dug, the recomposed soil is placed in it, along with a tree. Then a simple stone indicator is placed in the ground instead of a giant ego-tombstone. Instead of a family mausoleum, you have a family grove.

Maybe the family can choose the type of tree, or if that doesn't work for forest planning, you have a pine cemetery and an oak cemetery, etc. These could also be functional parks and rec sites instead of giant repositories of the dead that people rarely visit.

Obligitory

[Pikoro]

"Bring out yer deaaaaaaad!"

Re: Disgusting

[K. S. Kyosuke]

"Soil-ent Green is people!"

Composting is not cooking

[sjbe]

I'm sure that 131 degrees Fahrenheit is not hot enough to kill the wee beasties found in a human body.

Doesn't have to. That's not how composting works. You are thinking in terms of cooking which is not what is going on. Composting relies on various thermophilic organisms to consume the decaying matter and they generate heat as a by-product. In fact it doesn't work if it gets too hot and kills the microorganisms. That heat is what is generated by them doing their work. When they have digested the matter the compost cools down again.

We don't use human feces as fertilizer for much the same reasons

No the reason we don't use human feces as fertilizer is something quite different. Compost is quite safe to use and carries no meaningful risk of transmission of harmful pathogens. It's a completely different process with completely different risk profiles.

Re:Composting is not cooking

[BringsApples]

Well said, sir! I'd just like to add that compost CAN BE harmful, if it contains animal waste, and isn't broken down all the way. This is why there's all the scare with organic lettuce having E. Coli. Damn hippies rushing their compost.

Finally

[Tarlus]

After I die I might finally be useful at gardening.

Re:Score!

[jbmartin6]

They can pry my nutrients out of my cold dead hands.