Nobody wants to think about death on a Monday morning (depending on how hard you partied over the weekend), but recently there has been an increase in interest regarding human composting, and it has nothing to do with digging a long drop in your backyard.
According to an article in Vox, Human composting has now been legalised in six US states and is quickly gaining support as an alternative to traditional burial or creation.
Officially known as natural organic reduction (NOR), the process involves sealing the deceased in a reusable steel container along with various biodegradable materials such as alfalfa, straw, and wood chips. The natural bacteria in our bodies will then break down the dead organic material until you are left with organic soil that is perfectly suited for gardening.
“We’re not inventing some radical new way of disposing of human remains. We’re just basically going back to basics.”
One of the leading US companies using this technique is Recompose, and if you are feeling ghoulish, you can have a look at their website here.
Each body that completes the NOR process delivers 1 cubic metre of fertile soil.
One of the biggest gripes with traditional cremation has been the carbon offset and as such, newer and more eco-friendly options are growing in popularity. Our very own Desmond Tutu was recently buried after going through a process called ‘water cremation’, or Aquamation. This involves the body being submerged in water with a very high alkaline solution. This decomposes the body to skeletal form in 24 hours, something that would have taken a quarter century with traditional burial.
With the human population growing to 8 Billion only last year, more and more people are embracing eco-friendly ways of life, and death. Perhaps this is another way of ensuring that even in the afterlife, you can still do something good for the planet.
