News on Youtube Dec 31 2018

Washington may become first state to legalize human composting NY Daily News

Washington may become the first state to legalize human composting — which would give families a third option in addition to burial or cremation after their relatives die.

In the process — also called recomposition, — bodies are placed in a vessel which speeds up decomposition and turned into a soil which can be returned to families, reported.

We really only have two easily accessible options in the U.S. — cremation and burial, said Katrina Spade, a 41 year old Seattle based designer and architect. And the question is: Why do we only have two options, and what would it look like if we had a dozen?

Democratic Sen. Jamie Pedersen is sponsoring a bill that would expand options for disposing human remains. If the bill is passed, it would take place May 1, 2020.

The proposed Washington bill would also allow alkaline hydrolysis — where bodies are dissolved in water and potassium hydroxide in a pressurized chamber until only bone and a sterilized liquid remains — according to .

If passed, the bill would make Washington the 17th state to allow alkaline hydrolysis.

During recomposition, human remains wrapped in a shroud that have not been embalmed are placed into a 5 foot by 10 foot cylindrical vessel. They are set on top of a bed of organic material — including alfalfa, straw, and wood chips — and air is pulled into the container periodically to raise microbial activity — which speeds up decomposition.

When kept at 131 degrees Farenheit for 72 hours consecutively because of naturally occuring microbes, pathogens are destroyed. This is what keeps the human composting process safe.

Remains are then placed in a cubic yard of compost that can be used to grow new plants. Families may want to use the compost to either grow new plants on their own property, or use it on conservation lands.

Spade began working on the idea when she was completing her masters in architecture at University of Massachusetts Amherst. She felt a connection to death and its aftermath had been taken away by the funeral industry. She worked with researchers at Western Carolina University and University of Washington to turn the process she called recomposition into reality.

Spade began a pilot program called Recompose through Washington State University in 2017 to see her idea become reality.

The advantage that I see as a soil scientist and an environmental scientist is that it is relatively low in resource use and it also creates this soil like or compost like product that helps to store carbon, said Lynne Carpenter Boggs, associate professor sustainable and organic agriculture at Washington State.

Carpenter Boggs worked with Spade on a five month program that used six donor bodies in a controlled environment to research the safety of the process, and found human composting to be safe.

Human composting would cost less than a traditional burial. The National Funeral Directors Association reported traditional burials cost more than dollar 7,000 on average in 2017, as reported by NBC. Recompost, however, aims to charge dollar 5,500.

Scientists have pushed for alternative methods of disposing of human remains for environmental reasons.

Each year, the U.S. uses embalming fluid that would fill 6 Olympic sized swimming pools, according to the Green Burial Council.

Additionally, fossil fuels from cremation in North America could drive a person halfway to the sun each year.

Carpenter Boggs said human compost adds nutrients to soil, which can help it absorb water better and lessen erosion.

Programs around the world have aimed to make human burials more environmentally.

Swedish based company offers burial methods that help mimics natures way of decomposition to integrate remains in the soil within a year, and offers green cremation — which creates less impact on the environment than a traditional cremation.

Ramsey Creek Preserve in South Carolina is a green cemetery and conservation burial ground. Graves are hand dug and bodies are preserved with dry ice and buried in simple coffins or just shrouds in an effort to let bodies decompose more naturally and lessen environmental impact.