Legalizing Human Composting by 2027

Guests sit in the gathering space looking at a shrouded mannequin in front of the threshold vessel at Recompose, a green funeral home specializing in human composting, also known as natural organic reduction, terramation, or recomposition at Recompose Seattle on October 06, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. (Mat Hayward/Getty Images for Recompose)




California has already voted to legalize the composting of human remains in 2027, but some residents are not willing to wait that long.

The Los Angeles Times wrote about California resident Blaire Van Valkenburgh being one of a growing number of residents composting the remains of their loved ones, "But this kind of burial — natural organic reduction — won’t be legal in California until 2027, so Van Valkenburgh paid to fly her husband’s body to Washington, the first state to legalize human composting in 2020."

Until 2027, it appears that there will be a budding industry of collaboration to facilitate compost burials for those who live in California. "[I]n the first of what will probably be other such collaborations, the family-owned Clarity Funerals and Cremation in Anaheim has partnered with Return Home to offer a package deal for people in Southern California who want to compost their loved ones in Washington," the LA Times wrote.     READ MORE...

Only in California

California may legalize human composting, a process in which the body breaks down into soil over the course of about 30 days

Is there a greener way to honor those who have died?

Humans have caused unprecedented and irreversible changes to the climate in our time on Earth – pollution that continues even in death. But, across the US, some are posing an alternative: human composting.

Traditional after-death options such as burial and cremation can be tough on the environment, either by taking up land and emitting chemicals into the ground or by using fossil fuels and gas.

That’s why California lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow for human composting, or the natural organic reduction of human remains to soil.

It’s not the first state to do so. Washington state legalized natural organic reduction in 2020, allowing the human soil to be used in a forest as well as given to families.

Colorado has enacted similar legislation – restricting the soil from being used to grow crops that people will eat – as has Oregon. Delaware, Hawaii and Vermont are considering natural organic reduction bills.

Recompose, a Seattle-based company, was the first company in the US to get into the human composting business.  READ MORE