Even as more people opt for interment in simple shrouds or biodegradable caskets, urban cemeteries continue to fill up and cremation is a problematic option for the environmentally conscious, as the process releases greenhouse gases. Now Catrin Einhorn reports at the NYT that architect Katrina Spade has designed a facility for human composting that is attracting interest from environmental advocates and scientists. “Composting makes people think of banana peels and coffee grounds,” says Spade. But “our bodies have nutrients. What if we could grow new life after we’ve died?” The Urban Death Project's plans call for a three-story-high polished concrete composting structure in Seattle called "the core," which would be surrounded by contemplative spaces for visitors. After a ceremony - religious or not - friends and family would help insert the body into the core. Over several weeks a body would turn into about one cubic yard of compost, enough to plant a tree or a patch of flowers.
For most people in the US, there are two options after death: You are buried or you are burned. The costs, both environmental and financial, are significant, but we accept these options because they are all that we know. Conventional burial is anything but natural. Cadavers are preserved with embalming fluid containing formaldehyde, a carcinogen then buried in caskets made of metal or wood, and placed inside a concrete or metal burial vault. The tradition of embalming in the United States is relatively new, beginning in the Civil War when northern families needed to get their dead men home from the South. Spade understands the idea of human composting may be icky to some, but it’s an important part of her concept, the thing that differentiates it from natural burial, which requires extensive land. "I’m sure I’ll continue to get pushback, but I’ll continue to be stubborn because I think it’s really important that we’re part of a larger ecosystem.”
Related Stories
Washington becomes first US state to legalise human composting
Washington has become the first state in the US to legalise human composting.
Under the new law, people there can now choose to have their body turned into soil after their death.
The process is seen as an alternative to cremations and burials, and as a practical option in cities where land for graveyards is scarce.
At the end of the composting, loved ones are given the soil, which they can use in planting flowers, vegetables or trees.
Grow vegetables using human compost from loved one, despair as pests eat all of it.
Previously: 'Urban Death Project' Proposes to Compost the Dead
Washington Could Become the First State to Compost the Dead
In 2021, a Seattle Washington funeral company is set to open its doors and begin accepting customers in a first of a kind human composting site.
US 'deathcare' company Recompose will be able to turn the deceased into a cubic yard of soil over a period of as little as 30 days, using one-eighth of the energy of cremation and saving as much as a metric ton of carbon dioxide from being produced compared to other forms of burial.
The company will be able to service up to 75 individuals at once.
the process sees bodies placed in reusable vessels covered in woodchips, alfalfa and hay, and sealed away in hexagonal tubes.
There the corpse's temperature is regulated while its surroundings are aerated, allowing naturally occurring bacteria to break down the body over the course of four to seven weeks.
The deceased is then returned to their loved ones as compost, limiting the carbon footprint from cremations and traditional burials while cutting out the embalming fluid chemicals which can leach into the soil and can pollute groundwater.
If desired, the dearly departed dirt can also be donated to
a land soil project to provide a forest on the state's Bell Mountain with additional nutrients, with one person creating 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of soil.
Previous Coverage Here, Here, and Here
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @07:06AM
gases.Now
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @07:12AM
The dead are already dead. They don't have to worry about cancer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @07:22AM
You're the only one worried about the dead, you dingbat!
(Score: 2) by gnuman on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:22PM
And the living exposed to formaldehyde from these dead? You know, these bodies leak this carcinogen into the environment and then it ends up in your drinking water.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @07:14AM
Composting is so inefficient. Don't eat plants grown from the dead, eat the dead!
(Score: 2) by marcello_dl on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:45AM
Yes, before they eat you.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Thexalon on Tuesday April 14 2015, @03:52PM
Do what is necessary to feed America - vote Donner Party 2016!
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @07:18AM
Pushback is an asshole word used by assholes. Katrina Spade will encounter opposition because she's an asshole. But the good news is, her asshole makes great compost!
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday April 14 2015, @07:28AM
I think the idea has merit, but being composted highlights the ephemerality of one's life in a way I'm not entirely comfortable with, as a lowly human.
"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:20AM
Not even his skull will survive compostification.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:42AM
I guess the obvious name for the compost is Soylent Brown, and if it grows vegetables, Soylent Greens...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:50AM
Composting produces greenhouse gases as well; indeed it also produces methane which is a much stronger greenhouse gas than the CO2 produced by burning.
Of course, embalming makes sure the carbon is bound for a long time, so maybe it's the most climate-friendly option.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:58AM
How dare you suggest that composting isn't green enough, you evil antienvironmentalist you.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:16AM
If your composting is generating large amounts of methane, it's probably because you dumped a bunch of stuff in a pile and walked away.
You need to turn|aerate your compost heap periodically.
For this reason, a lot of folks make their composters from a barrel and make it easy to rotate.
(First, give it to your friend who likes to target shoot.)
A variety of different-sized content is good too.
Any animal-based stuff is a no-no. (That draws vermin.)
Preventing Methane Gas while Composting [thegreenenergyblog.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:47AM
Any animal-based stuff is a no-no.
Human bodies are animal stuff.
(Score: 2) by jdccdevel on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:39PM
My understanding is that animal products require much higher temperatures to compost properly than plant material. (i.e. Far to hot for a backyard compost.)
That said, industrial composting works just fine with animal products, since the process they use is much more active than a backyard compost would ever be. My City has a Composting program, and they take anything that will rot.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:22AM
Human body is 70% water, burning that requires a large amount of energy. Composting on the other hand requires very little input.
And if wanted the gases can be collected and processes in both of these options. Whether these guys do it, their sorry web page doesn't say.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:29PM
Dumb idea but how about we bury them in the desert turning them into mummies. Then we burn them as fuel. Trouble is getting the bodies to the desert. Though, some countries are turning rainforest into desert so they are ahead of the game.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:09PM
Human body is 70% water, burning that requires a large amount of energy
Or we could just put the bodies in large pits, and set them on fire, just like the Nazis did.
I think I broke a few laws with the above sentence. Sorry.
(Score: 1) by zugedneb on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:52PM
but first, we should make lampshades of the their skin, shrunken heads, and soap from the bones just like the Nazis did...
hmm... wtf did I just write?
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 4, Insightful) by quadrox on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:23AM
Cremation requires burning additional fuel and thus releases additional greenhouse gases that would not have been released otherwise, whereas compostion simply releases whatever has been sequestedered during the liftetimer of the person.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:06AM
You can also donate your body to science, where it'll be used to train medical students, or be left to decay in various circumstances so that they can gain information on how to analyse crime scenes.
You can also donate some of your still-functional organs to others that may need them.
You can compost, but you can also recycle a bit first.
(Score: 2) by iwoloschin on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:16PM
For many religions it's not "ok" to donate a body to science. Sure, *you* may not care cause you're dead, but your family's beliefs will overrule any beliefs you may have once had, because, again, you're dead and they're not. That being said, many religions encourage burial, which is a very small step away from composting, and I think that this is actually something that could become normal within a lifespan or two.
To be perfectly honest, I think that I'd much rather be composted and used to fertilize a tree. Put a simple plaque in front of it and call it a memorial tree and we're all set. I mean, it works for piggies, so why not humans?
(Score: 1) by deathlyslow on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:45PM
Three things,
Can you give some examples of the donation to science. That intrigues me as to which denominations/sects/what have you. There are ways to ensure that your organs or entire body can be harvested/studied. Wills and living wills in the US come to mind. And lastly Nice reference to Enders Game. I think people would have problems with the mother trees though, besides you need to be alive when that process starts.
(Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Tuesday April 14 2015, @06:50PM
I'm not sure if it's religious per se or just superstitious, but many Asian cultures traditionally have big problems with having organs taken out of bodies when they die. Why exactly escapes me at the moment, probably something about making it harder for reincarnation to happen or something.
(Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Tuesday April 14 2015, @06:45PM
your family's beliefs will overrule any beliefs you may have once had, because, again, you're dead and they're not.
What the frack? Do you actually believe this? "You're dead, so no one cares what you want" you're aware we have WILLS, right? You get to decide what happens to your property after you die, but you think you don't get decide what happens to your own body???
Fortunately, you're dead (ha ha) wrong on this. If you leave detailed written instructions, they have to be followed. Someone would have to raise the dispute, but a single person on your side -- or even just the mortuary itself -- could petition the court, submit the instructions you left, and take possession of the remains to execute your wishes.
You can also appoint an agent -- friend or family, just whoever you trust most -- to control the disposition of your remains, and this appointment is binding: http://fcant.org/pdf/texasforms/appoint_agent_control_disposition_remains_v20101009.pdf [fcant.org]
I really wish people would actually look up what the law actually is regarding relevant topics, rather than just assume. It's usually not that hard to look things like this up, and it avoids spreading misinformation.
(Score: 2) by bart9h on Tuesday April 14 2015, @03:24PM
Throw it in the sea?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday April 14 2015, @04:55PM
Reduce -> Re-Use -> Recycle
Birth Control -> Organ Donation -> Composting?
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Tuesday April 14 2015, @06:09PM
Reduce -> Re-Use -> Recycle
Birth Control -> Organ Donation -> Composting?
check -> check -> Maybe
I was going to go for more for a more traditional Nordic funeral pyre to celebrate my cultural heritage but this would be another option. At least the funeral pyre is green as it doesn't use fuel oil, and besides it isn't like I will be needing my body once I have passed, same with those organs. Also if you are going to be sending someone off to the afterlife at least let them enter the one they want and I am going for Valhalla or Fólkvangr.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 2) by Entropy on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:08AM
Soylent green is the obvious next step from "the Core".
(Score: 2, Insightful) by pTamok on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:17AM
I suspect you'd need to remove the teeth containing mercury amalgam fillings before composting.
I'm not sure if encouraging dermestid beetles [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermestidae [wikipedia.org] ] might not be a better approach.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday April 14 2015, @10:32AM
I was not aware of this option.
Being single with no progeny, this looks like a rational way to go.
I did not think tying up land did any good - I would rather leave that to the living. Cremation I thought was messy, I never liked the idea much of being dumped overboard, but having part of me become a tree and other plants? I like that.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:40AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by schad on Tuesday April 14 2015, @12:27PM
Unless you launch our corpse into space on an escape trajectory, that's gonna happen anyway. Unless you want to sequester dead bodies so they turn into coal or oil or something, we're all going to decompose into stuff that ultimately finds its way into a plant. Which will then, possibly after a few intervening steps (i.e. eaten by an insect, which is eaten by a bird, which is eaten by a land animal), be eaten by a human. The cycle of life!
I do like the idea of planting a long-lived tree atop your remains. Though I suspect you'd want to get rid of the bones, which... is a job that I would not like to have, nor would I wish it on anyone else.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday April 14 2015, @05:59PM
Why remove the bones? Bone meal is excellent fertilizer, just grind up the whole body before composting.
(Score: 2) by aclarke on Tuesday April 14 2015, @12:50PM
I've told my wife that I want to be ground up and mixed into a flower garden. However, she thinks that's icky. In the hopeful decades between now and when I die, I'm sure society will become more open to many of these other options.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @12:00PM
Most cemeteries are not that big. So the space is "rented" and at the end of 25 to 50 years, the space is reused. Even the granite head stones are reused, they are size of "square" of sidewalk, so they are place face down and used for new sidewalks around town.
There are some site with long entombment, like a unknown solder. But those are in special corners of the cemeteries.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:26PM
You son of a bitch! You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn't you? You son of a bitch, you left the bodies and you only moved the headstones! You only moved the headstones! Why! Why!
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:09PM
"The problem with Windows 10 is that they only moved the headstones"
"The problem with the US election results is that they only moved the headstones"
...
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:20PM
In the Netherlands too, you can rent a grave for 10 years, after which the land has to be re-claimed and used to bury someone else. People who want a longer rest have to pay more.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @12:13PM
I once put the leftovers from a chicken in a compost heap behind my house. The back yard had the stench of rotting flesh for weeks. That was only a few ounces of meat, your talking about a perpetual heap of rotting bodies. Only solution I can think of is lots of carbon filtering (created by burning wood). I'm not convinced of the Eco freindlieness because of this necessity
(Score: 2) by jdccdevel on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:58PM
Industrial composting like this uses much higher temperatures, and works very differently from backyard composting.
Often, composting at this scale uses a big sealed tank in a process called anaerobic digestion [wikipedia.org] to capture the methane and other gasses produced, a lot of which is burned to fuel the process (making it self sustaining).
You could think of it like cooking your compost in a pressure cooker. It produces the same end result, but much, much quicker, and without the rotting meat smell.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @06:28PM
"Digester" is the proper word for such a mechanism.
"Composting" is generally understood to deal with plant matter only.
I tried to communicate this in my previous post (on which you commented) but I didn't put a fine enough point on it.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:26PM
now that's stinkin' thinkin'
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Geodirk on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:29PM
I live in one of the states that allows Liquid Cremation. Seems like a real good option to burial, cremation, and the above referenced composting. See here:
http://gizmodo.com/what-is-liquid-cremation-and-why-is-it-illegal-1696897615 [gizmodo.com]
(Score: 1) by kadal on Tuesday April 14 2015, @05:35PM
Wow, hadn't heard of this. I thought the Parsis [wikipedia.org] had the craziest burial technique: feed the vultures! [wikipedia.org]. But that's become troublesome because the Indian vulture population has been decimated.
Liquid cremation tops that though. I don't understand why it's illegal in the other states.
(Score: 1) by Geodirk on Tuesday April 14 2015, @07:08PM
It's probably illegal because it is so cheap and all the funeral homes/cemeteries can't make a killing (pun intended) off of the deceased. I remember seeing liquid cremation advertised in the newspaper obituaries as "Starting at $800". No ridiculous fees for all the other normal stuff that goes into a typical funeral.
It is hard to get over the "flushing grandma down the drain" logic that the article above describes. I think lawmakers would have a hard time with that one too.
(Score: 2) by That_Dude on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:34PM
I wonder how long this facility can operate before it becomes too contaminated to operate because of fat soluble persistent organic pollutants that have worked their way up the food chain and in this situation highly concentrated? Looks good on the drawing board, but concentrating poisons and spreading them around to support non-crop vegetation just adds another point source that will work it's way back into the food chain. Is there any lesser of evils in the long run?
(Score: 2) by DNied on Tuesday April 14 2015, @06:10PM
...I'd never again be comfortable buying potting mix for my plants.
(Score: 2, Funny) by zenlessyank on Tuesday April 14 2015, @06:49PM
Just toss them down a giant lava vent at your friendly neighborhood volcano. Recycling at its finest. Seems we could probably stick a lot more stuff down there too. Like radioactive material, other non recyclable items, republicans, death row convicts, etc...
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:31PM
Bury me in a shallow grave in a cardboard box that will break down quickly. The next year, plant a crop of corn over me.
That's recycling I can believe in. :)
(I'm more serious than you might think. Mom Nature is awfully good at recycling nutrients when things die. If you're worried about long term carbon capture, plant trees instead of corn.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @09:36PM
Bring out your dead!
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:17PM
judgedredd.wikia.com/wiki/Resyk