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
