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posted by martyb on Friday January 04 2019, @04:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the circle-of-life dept.

With an upcoming bill, Washington state might be able to start composting dead people. The bill aims to legalize composting human remains and the heat generated by natural microbes should bring the pile up to 55°C for 72 hours, which is hot enough to kill key pathogens.

The method is called “recomposting” 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 recomposting in Washington where burial and cremation are currently the only acceptable ways to dispose of human remains.

Composting was prominent in the Larry Niven / Jerry Pournelle science fiction novel, Footfall. However, the discussion in Washington was initiated by Katrina Spade in 2013 while working on her master’s in architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.


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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @06:23AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @06:23AM (#781941)

    I'll keep my body around for resurrection, thank you

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @06:55AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 04 2019, @06:55AM (#781951)

    As my Grandpa put it when my Catholic family freaked out about his decision to be cremated, "If God can figure out how to put your mother's cancer ridden body back together, not to mention bring our decomposed bodies back to life in the first place, I don't think a cremation will be much of an obstacle."

  • (Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Friday January 04 2019, @07:25PM

    by The Archon V2.0 (3887) on Friday January 04 2019, @07:25PM (#782195)

    Joke's on you, the dragon killed the cleric first.