A greener way to die: How human composting is growing as an alternative to burial or cremation

With the global temperature soaring, methods like burials and cremations are increasingly being seen as contributors to carbon emissions. A CNN report said cremating one body emits an estimated 190 kg of carbon dioxide into the air, which is the equivalent of driving 756 km in a car. Burial has its hazards too — apart from an indefinite use of land, it involves embalming a corpse in toxic solutions, which could be harmful to the soil.

Moreover, burials and cremations are quite expensive and not only many can afford them. According to Vox, in the US, traditional funerals cost $7,000 to $10,000 on average.

Therefore, human composting — a process that costs around $5,500 including the laying-in ceremony and uses much less energy than cremation — has emerged as a viable option for bidding goodbye to loved ones. The soil produced through this procedure can be used for gardening or can be spread in designated memorial grounds or forest conservation areas.

Speaking to CNN, Katrina Spade, founder and CEO of Recompose, which is a licensed green funeral home in Seattle, said, “When human composting transforms the organic material of our bodies, carbon is also sequestered in the soil created. Rather than being released as carbon dioxide gas through exhaust during cremation, the carbon matter contained in each body returns to the earth.”

How does human composting take place?

The body is first washed and dressed in a biodegradable grown. It’s then placed in a closed vessel, usually measuring 8 feet by 4 feet, along with selected materials such as alfalfa, straw and sawdust.

Inside the container for the next 30 days, the body is left to decompose. To speed up the decay, oxygen is added to the vessel, which results in the unfolding of a process called aerobic digestion, in which microbes start to consume organic matter. Meanwhile, the temperature inside the container is kept around 130 degrees Fahrenheit or 55 degrees Celsius in order to kill off contagions.

By time the aerobic digestion is over, the body has been transformed into a soil-like material, containing nutrients, bones and some medical devices — these are taken out from the compost pile and recycled. The contents of the vessel are then ground in a machine to help further break the bones into fragments. Then, the material is occasionally rotated for another 30 days.

“As the microbial activity comes to an end, the temperature inside the pile drops, marking the transformation from an active composite pile into the soil”, The Verge said in a report on the process of human composting. After this, the family of the deceased is given the soil, which weighs around 181 kg.

Who is opposing human composting?

The biggest opponent of this process has been the Catholic Church. When California legalised human composting last year, the state’s Catholic Conference called it an “unfortunate spiritual, emotional, and psychological distancing from the deceased.,” New York Post reported.

Speaking to the media, Steve Pehanich, spokesperson of the aforementioned organisation, said, “We believe that ‘transformation’ of the remains would create an emotional distance rather than a reverence” for the remains. He added that even cremated remains must “… remain in a communal place befitting of the dignity inherent in the human body and its connection to the immortal soul.”