Green Burial /Human Composting

A previous article posted in this forum talks about a recent bill passed in Washington state legalizing human composting—also known as “liquid cremation.” According to e article the process turns human remains into soil. It may be a bit uncomfortable, but I'd love to hear more about the actual process of human composting if Elizabeth knows about it.

Cory Collins wrote:A previous article posted in this forum talks about a recent bill passed in Washington state legalizing human composting—also known as “liquid cremation.” According to e article the process turns human remains into soil. It may be a bit uncomfortable, but I'd love to hear more about the actual process of human composting if Elizabeth knows about it.

Welcome, Elizabeth Fournier, to the permies.com forums. Glad to have someone as knowledgeable as you around!

I'm interested in how the "liquid burial" concept will work in a desert rangeland setting.

Also, how does human composting affect the surrounding plant-life (It's probably in the book, which I haven't yet read).

Liquid cremation is certainly picking up steam in the United States lately. I'm no expert, but the gist of the process is that a body is soaked in a lye bath under high heat and pressure for several hours, and what comes out is bones and a relatively harmless liquid concoction that goes down the drain. I'm not sure "human composting" is the most accurate phrase for the process—probably "human liquefaction" is closer, even if "liquefaction" is a slightly uncomfortable word.

I'd be interested to hear more opinions on it. It sounds like it is a significant improvement over traditional cremation. I suspect that natural burials are still a much better option in terms of impact, but cremation serves some practical concerns that are especially relevant to those of us living in crowded cities. I do wonder if the rising popularity of liquid cremation relative to other alternative burial methods is due to Americans' squeamishness around death and the fact that it fits better with the clinical approach to burial that we are so hellbent on maintaining. Pack the body off to the mortician, don't ask about what happens there, get back some sterile dust in an urn…

Mark Kissinger wrote:I'm interested in how the "liquid burial" concept will work in a desert rangeland setting.

According to this article, liquid cremation uses a significant amount of water but not enough that we should let that stop it from being used:

One worry might be amount of water used in the process—about 300 gallons per corpse. Gloria says this might be a consideration during droughts but is otherwise a drop in the bucket. “If every Californian who died in one year used water cremation, it would amount to 64 million gallons of water in that year,” he says. “One L.A. [water] treatment plant uses more than 500 million gallons in a day.”

Of course, my feeling is that if you're in a sparsely inhabited desert rangeland, we should probably make laws that allow you to leave a body out in a quiet place in the land and let scavengers take care of it. Nothing greener or more sustainable (or cheaper) than letting nature do the recycling.

Ian Young wrote:Of course, my feeling is that if you're in a sparsely inhabited desert rangeland, we should probably make laws that allow you to leave a body out in a quiet place in the land and let scavengers take care of it. Nothing greener or more sustainable (or cheaper) than letting nature do the recycling.

Amen to that!  I have read the article on liquid cremation, or human liquification, or human composting, or whatever you want to call it.  While I would be willing to concede that it is likely an improvement over conventional embalming or incineration, I don't see that there is much here to get excited about.  Perhaps for people needing to be buried in dense urban areas, I get it.  I can see the inherent problems in dedicating ever-increasing amounts of open land to housing the dead in places where overcrowding and sky-high real estate prices are already issues.

But otherwise, I really don't understand why we need some technological innovation to dispose of corpses cleanly (environmentally speaking).  Chuck a body into a hole in the ground, and it will compost quite nicely on its own.  Boom, done!

What we need is a revision in the laws that have been built up to protect various facets of the burial industry, not spiffy new technology.  That would allow people to get back to basics, if that is indeed what they are personally comfortable with.  I suspect that, if we allowed them to do so once again, a surprising number of people would elect to be placed in a pine box in the ground in back of the old church and let nature take its course.  I know I would.  No fuss, no technology, and minimal expense.

There would still of course be one stumbling block to overcome: our obsession with open-casket funeral services, necessitating embalming in the first place.  That has never made much sense to me, but I guess it works for other people.  Still, all it would take is a cultural shift.  Many religions around the world - Judaism comes to mind - already incorporate the practical need for a speedy burial into their traditions.  At one point, practicality demanded everyone to observe such practices.  Why couldn't we get back to that?

Matthew Nistico wrote:
What we need is a revision in the laws that have been built up to protect various facets of the burial industry,

In the US, most burial practices are determined by mortuaries, not by law.  Only in rare cases is embalming legally required.  Nor is a casket, burial vault, rubber casket seal, etc.  These practices are pushed by the conventional mortuary industry in order to make their business more lucrative.

https://funerals.org/what-you-should-know-about-embalming/

I don't think the e article you read is correct. The companies in Washington aren't doing liquid cremation. They are composting. With wood chips, alfalfa, and straw to turn your body into 2 wheelbarrows of soil.


Here is a video that discusses it.

Ah, I think we've accidentally conflated two very different methods of body "disposition" because the bill in Washington legalized both of them. There's liquid cremation aka alkaline hydrolysis, and then there's human composting, which is quite literally composting.

Exciting to hear that composting is making inroads in the US. As that video mentions, it offers the benefits of natural burial but is more practical for dense urban areas. Sounds like they give the finished material back to the family, which is great. You can have an urn if you'd like, or better yet you can plant and fertilize a tree to remember your loved one.

Ian Young wrote:Ah, I think we've accidentally conflated two very different methods of body "disposition" because the bill in Washington legalized both of them. There's liquid cremation aka alkaline hydrolysis, and then there's human composting, which is quite literally composting.

I just looked into it, and yep you are right. Though no one here seems to be talking about the liquid cremation, which might be why I didn't even know that was part of the bill. All interest seems to be for the actual compost process. Which I do have to say is exciting.

Especially since even though I have a 40 acre homestead, the burial laws here say you have to have an official cemetery run by a corporation to be buried, which makes home burial a bit difficult. So even though this is being sold as a way for urban folks to have a natural burial, for me it might make sense to do so I can have my remains put back into my property.

Tyler Ludens wrote:In the US, most burial practices are determined by mortuaries, not by law...

https://funerals.org/what-you-should-know-about-embalming/

Thanks for posting that link.  Very informative.  Good to know that embalming is not mandated by any laws (except in rare cases).  Still, there are other areas where local government dictates the terms of burial.  Case in point:

Devin Lavign wrote:...even though I have a 40 acre homestead, the burial laws here say you have to have an official cemetery run by a corporation to be buried, which makes home burial a bit difficult...

I was also about to repeat the notion that some jurisdictions require a body be placed in a coffin prior to cremation.  However, based on the content of this thread, I decided to Google it first.  Turns out that most US laws only specify an "alternative container," meaning that funeral homes do not in fact get a legal mandate to sell you a coffin just to be cremated.  There are still practical necessities involved with transporting a body from place to place, so a rigid cardboard of plywood box is often used instead. This is also good to know.

There are definitely laws about how bodies are to be handled.  These laws can be searched online, so as not to be a mystery.

For Texas:  https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/HS/htm/HS.711.htm

1st time I read about this, and I have to look for it in Europe!

I find it crazy to use Wood for a box or for burning. Or petrol, any energy.

I would also suggest that if there is a danger in letting nature do its job as for wild animals, it means we are too many people on earth per square mile…

Where I live, near the sea, I would dream even if illegal that people would weight me down for fish food and report I suicided!

Animals have given me their flesh, and I want to give mine back to earth!

In our family we  were shocked a year ago when one of my wife's big brothers (a mere five years older than me) was felled on holiday, by an ultimately fatal heart attack. Weeks later his body arrived back from abroad in ,a zinc lined box embalmed of course as required by the international rules  -- written, I presume by the industry.

The funeral industry is very cunning, with a mastery of softly selling the appearance of life via embalming and makeup. when I go I want a closed coffin funeral with a mushroom suit if legal and definitely no embalming etc unless I am abroad when I want to be buried where I die or if cheaper cremated and my ashes returned

Seosamh Devine wrote:In our family we  were shocked a year ago when one of my wife's big brothers (a mere five years older than me) was felled on holiday, by an ultimately fatal heart attack. Weeks later his body arrived back from abroad in ,a zinc lined box embalmed of course as required by the international rules  -- written, I presume by the industry.

I'm hardly an expert on public health policy, but I suspect that if there is any situation in which embalming and sealed caskets and such are actually a good idea it is probably when you have a body that requires shipping long distances after long delays.  That much seems reasonable.

Bodies can be refrigerated but I expect embalming is more typical because easier and probably cheaper.  Airplanes that don't have refrigeration could transport a body if embalmed, so that's probably why they have that rule.

"No human body may be held in any place or be in transit more than 24 hours after death and pending final disposition unless either maintained at a temperature within the range of 34 degrees - 40 degrees Fahrenheit, or is embalmed by a licensed embalmer in a manner approved by the Texas Funeral Service Commission, or by an embalmer licensed to practice in the state where death occurred or is encased in a container which insures against seepage of fluid and the escape of offensive odors."

https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=25&pt=1&ch=181&rl=4

In the US they talk about making compost in 1 month which I found very fast...

I Europe I have found that they talk about a 1 year process.

Xisca Nicolas wrote:In the US they talk about making compost in 1 month which I found very fast...

I Europe I have found that they talk about a 1 year process.

The company in WA doing composting burial, says it can be as fast as 2 weeks to compost a body. That is pretty fast for sure.

Just became aware of this topic from this article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/everything-youre-afraid-to-ask-about-human-composting

Heck, this is the way I want to go. But $5,500? Surely an enterprising young permaculturist could get 'er done more cheaply than that! LOL!

I live in WA, where the first human composting laws and enterprises came into being. The previous postings on this topic were all from six years ago, so I'm wondering if there is currently any interest in revisiting the subject.

My husband and I, in our 80s and after some years of interest, investigating, and signing petitions were among the first to join Recompose's pre-paid Precompose in 2020. We wanted to support what we considered to be the environmentally gentlest End of Life option available in our area. There were no Green Burial sites near us at that time, and a home burial on our 20 acres of forest wasn't/still isn't legal.

If anyone is interested in hearing my experience with Recompose when my husband died in May of 2024 I'll be happy to share more in detail. For now I'll just say that it was the perfect choice for us.

~ irene

I'm sorry for your loss Irene. Thank you for offering to share your experiences of what must have been a difficult time for you. I guess most of us put off thinking about end-of-life issues but if you do make plans it must be easier for those left behind.
I understand the recompose process composts the body with other organic materials and results in a soil you can use in your garden. Did it all go as you expected?

Oops! That Quote got away from me!

Thank you, Nancy. Please know that sharing my experience is an important part of the decision to choose Recompose. My husband and I shared a passion for a quiet retirement in the woods where we could build a farmstead, rescue barnyard animals, continue our long commitment to organic gardening, and to create a green and peaceful retreat for visiting friends and family. And we thought often ‘about what comes after’.

We have been blessed with 30 healthy years of living our dream. My husband eventually showed signs of dementia so together we planned how the next few years might play out, including the last chapter.

Our diet (vegan) and lifestyle (medieval peasant) kept us strong and physically strong and healthy. I was able to care for my husband by myself (sleep deprivation was the toughest part as he was never ill, no meds) until the very end.

I was in close email contact with Recompose and all our conversations were like talking with a close, caring friend. You can read about the services offered on Recompose’s website; we chose small and quiet.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Death is the second bookend in the lives of every composite entity, our universal experience. Thinking and talking about it is healthy and empowering. It takes away the scary and helps you understand how deeply we are all connected. We’re all of us Star Stuff, after all.
💕
~ irene

I thought I'd already posted on this. Now I'll have to settle in because I have a lot to say.
In 2001 my neighbor died suddenly. Because I had a Death and Dying course, I knew that there are virtually no laws restricting burial here in West Virginia; but because he had no history of heart attack, though he was 75, the sheriff had to sign off before the coroner could be allowed to release the body back to us. Meanwhile my husband organized a gravedigging crew, my neighbors didn't go to work (or came back in one case) or school, we began cooking and another friend put together a simple wooden coffin. Unfortunately the sheriff was tied up in court till 5; we were all gathered and ready by then.Two of us accompanied the new widow to the coroner's to wait on release of her husband's body I remembered being on edge from the sound of an unseen two-year old's crying, and thinking afterwards that the usual funeral (my father-in-law died two months from that time) was as artificial as the plastic cherry tree blooming near where we waited. Finally we were on our way; as we climbed a hill and came around the bend at dusk, to suddenly see 50 people with candles--a moment I'll never forget. The coffin was borne to the grave and lowered on stout ropes as we sang Amazing Grace and Will the Circle Be Unbroken, and recited a Buddhist prayer (this couple had been part of a meditation group).  The widow told me later, "I felt borne aloft by the caring of all those people," and "I didn't know how I'd get through the rest of my life without Ted, but I knew then that I wasn't facing it alone." And I thought: Doing this the simple way our ancestors did it for thousands of years is a comfort; it's like we're connected to those people, however unknown. And I thought--what the undertaker adds is an interfering stranger in the midst of a group of people trying to come together around a hole that has opened up in their midst. And a big drain on the family's finances.
There was a book I learned a lot from Called Your Final Act of Love, which spelled out the reasons it's best to do everything for a dead loved one yourself, and what the laws were in all 50 states--it's probably out of date. But it emphasized a point I want to lean on hard here: the time to find out what the laws are where you live, and where your parents live, and to have conversations about what people want for when they die, is NOW. If you're unprepared, and suddenly someone is dead, you're vulnerable to that funeral director saying he'll "take care of everything<"--which he will, for several thousand dollars. It's overwhelming to deal with these decisions on the worst day of your life. But if you've already made these decisions, then you just have to carry them out, and the most stricken persons will be assisted by more peripheral people in doing so. They want to help, they just don't know what to do. Sarah told me she had trouble convincing Ted to have this conversation; finally she said, "Ted, let's just pretend for the moment that you're mortal, so we can talk about this," and that worked.
Since that time, a neighbor and my sister died, and we dealt with it the same way. My husband built coffins for both of them, and the funeral home (Involved because they had to transport the bodies from hospitals) said they were the best simple coffins he'd ever seen and could he get the maker interested in building more--also said when someone else made Ted's coffin--but in neither case was there interest, they were willing to build a coffin as a gift but not to do it as a moneymaking operation. And when I go, my request is no coffin at all just a sheet will do.
So. You DON'T have to hire funeral director, or have embalming or an absurd, horribly expensive coffin to interrupt the body's return to the streams of life; it need cost very little; and you should look into the laws, and the preferences of your loved ones, now.

Why not combine Green Burial and Hugelculture? Laws and regulations aside, it seems to be a logical match.

Aquamation (liquid cremation) is currently legal in Quebec, Ontario,  Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and NWT.  BC has a petition going to make it legal in that province.

In Florida you can still bury the body sans coffin if you get it done within a certain number of hours/days.

An old friend has a large farm, with a bone pile for the carcasses of all the animals that have passed on.
Vultures need to eat too, and they dispatch the meat part of the deceased rapidly.

I joke with her about how I too would be happy to be vulture food, but if anyone in authority, or one of those folks who consider themselves a self appointed authority, ever spotted a human skeleton amongst the bones of the critters all hell would break loose.