Washington becomes the first state to legalize composting of humans

The average burial can cost between $8,000 and $25,000. Cremation can top $6,000.

By Faith Karimi and Amir Vera,
CNN
May 22, 2019

Excerpts:

Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill Tuesday legalizing human composting. The bill will go into effect in May next year.

Currently in Washington bodies can either be cremated or buried. The process of recomposition provides a third option that speeds up the process of turning dead bodies into soil, a practice colloquially known as “human composting.” The bill describes the process as a “contained, accelerated conversion of human remains to soil.”

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Jamie Pedersen, said it is an environmentally- friendly way of disposing of human remains.

Katrina Spade, CEO of the human composting company, Recompose, explained the process of turning a dead body into soil to CNN affiliate KIRO.
“(The) body is covered in natural materials, like straw or wood chips, and over the course of about three to seven weeks, thanks to microbial activity, it breaks down into soil,” she said.

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While the body is being broken down, she said, families of the deceased can visit the facility and will ultimately receive the soil that remains. It’s up to the family determine how they want to use that soil.

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