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World's First Human Composting Site to Open

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday December 10 2019, @10:46AM   Printer-friendly
from the real-dirt-nap dept.

RandomFactor writes:

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

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Bot on Tuesday December 10 2019, @11:24AM (8 children)

    by Bot (3902) on Tuesday December 10 2019, @11:24AM (#930516) Journal

    Always considered cremation a waste of resources openly contrasting the current ecopauperism. Wonder why it is tolerated.

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  • (Score: 2) by Chocolate on Tuesday December 10 2019, @12:34PM (3 children)

    by Chocolate (8044) on Tuesday December 10 2019, @12:34PM (#930532) Journal

    Religion.

    Just about all of them say you will go to Hell if you don't follow their religion. Hence the burning.

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    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday December 10 2019, @08:35PM (1 child)

      by Bot (3902) on Tuesday December 10 2019, @08:35PM (#930760) Journal

      Nice try but your interpretation fails for the most widespread religion, satanism.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 25 2019, @03:52PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 25 2019, @03:52PM (#936041)

        You misspelt "Islam" there. Yes, all of them are going to Hell following the path set by the Greatest Deceiver of them All. Satan.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @04:06AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @04:06AM (#930950)

      Go hell if you don't follow their religion or literally Hitler if you don't comply with leftist desires. Left is just as fanatical as the religious.

  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday December 10 2019, @02:09PM

    by looorg (578) on Tuesday December 10 2019, @02:09PM (#930553)

    It doesn't have to be a waste, you could use the excess heat to warm things up such as buildings.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @03:26AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @03:26AM (#930939)
    What are the other alternatives that are widely available to cremation? Plain old burial has rather high costs too, both financial and ecological. The former costs are definitely higher, as embalming, a plot of land in a cemetery, and a coffin are at least an order of magnitude more expensive than cremation, an urn, and a niche in a crypt, the latter two being optional. I know this since I've had to do the latter for my own mother fairly recently, and have been helping out doing the former for several other recently deceased relatives. If this human composting ever becomes a viable option for me when I die, I'd prefer it I think.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @06:00AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @06:00AM (#930975)

      Thanks to the laws in my state, to be cremated requires embalming and a full-sized coffin to be burned in (one guy even had the law citation ready to go when I pushed back, which I double-checked later). When I was price-shopping, burial in the cheapest cemetery only added $300 to the total price compared to cremation.

      Although you should have seen the look of fake horror on one gal's face when I dared to suggest that my friend would be perfectly happy being set on fire in a cardboard box.

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @04:29AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @04:29AM (#931323)
        Now that is beyond ridiculous. Around here, you only need to be embalmed and have a coffin if you (or your heirs and assigns) want to have a wake where visitors can see your corpse before it's cremated. This was what was done for my mother, against my personal wishes but since the rest of my family wanted it that way despite the expense I was overruled. And even then the funeral parlour just rents out the coffin. They get it back the day cremation is done, and only a small fee is paid for the coffin rental. Actual cremation is done by indeed placing the corpse inside a cardboard box (where family and friends can optionally write messages addressed to the deceased), and placing that inside the cremation oven. You can also opt to be cremated immediately after death, no need for a coffin or embalming. This was what was done with my father-in-law, as my wife's family was eminently more practical, and we had his wake with the urn of ashes in a prominent spot instead.