Human Composting In NY! Will You Put Your Loved Ones In Your Garden?

What is compost? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, compost is organic material added to soil to help plants grow. That can be, for example, your dinner leftovers combined with cut grass and leaves from the yard. Instead of throwing these items away, compost them together. It helps the soil and the air we breathe.

Here's the question, would you compost a human body? This could be possible in New York by this Fall.

Get our free mobile app

Rather than calling it human composting, we are calling it a "green burial". Bloomberg Law reports that New York State Legislature passed a bill that would allow for human composting. Funeral homes that are equipped to do so would use "natural organic reduction" to speed up decomposition process.

Your loved ones body would be placed in an above-ground container and turned into soil. now that the Senate and Assembly have passed the bill it's up to Governor Kathy Hochul. If she signs it, the measure would take effect approximately 3 months later.

How does one compost a human body? According to a Washington State funeral home, Recompose, the body is placed in a vessel with wood chips, alfalfa and straw and then the vessel is sealed to the the process begin. In about 1 months time the body becomes soil but needs another 2 to 6 weeks to cure outside the vessel.

Is human composting the right thing to do? I'll let you decide the moral dilemma but here is some information behind "organic reduction". Allegedly this process is much less expensive than a traditional burial or cremation and they say it's good for the environment.

This changes the saying "older than dirt". Are you ready for this New York?