ALBANY, NY (AP) — Howard Fischer, a 63-year-old investor who lives in upstate New York, has a wish for her death. He wants his remains placed in a container, broken down by tiny microbes, and composted in rich, fertile soil.
Perhaps his composted remains could be planted outside the family home in Vermont, or perhaps they could be re-interred elsewhere. “Whatever my family chooses to do with the compost after it’s made is up to them,” Fischer said.
“I am determined to compost my body and my family knows it,” he added. “But I wish it happened in New York, where I live, rather than sending me all over the country.”
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday signed legislation legalizing natural organic reduction, known as human composting, making New York the sixth state in the nation to allow this method of burial.
Washington State became the first state to legalize human composting in 2019, followed by Colorado and Oregon in 2021, and Vermont and California in 2022.
For Fischer, this alternative and ecological burial method is in line with his philosophical view of life: to live in an environmentally responsible way.
The process is as follows: the body of the deceased is placed in a reusable container with plant materials such as wood chips, alfalfa and straw. The organic blend creates the perfect habitat for natural microbes to do their job, breaking down the body quickly and efficiently in about a month.
The end result is one cubic meter of nutrient-rich soil amendment, the equivalent of about 36 bags of soil, which can be used to plant trees or enrich protected lands, forests or gardens.
For urban areas like New York, where land is limited, this can be considered a rather attractive burial alternative.
Michelle Menter, director of Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve, a cemetery in central New York, said the facility “will seriously consider” the alternative method.
“It definitely fits more into what we do,” he added.
The 130-acre (52-hectare) nature reserve cemetery, set among protected forest lands, offers natural, green burials, which is when a body can be placed in a biodegradable container and grave so it can decompose completely.
“Anything we can do to get people away from concrete linings and fancy coffins and embalming, we have to do and support,” he said.
But not everyone agrees with the idea.
The New York State Catholic Conference, a group representing the state’s bishops, has long opposed the bill, calling the burial method “inappropriate.”
“A process that is perfectly appropriate for returning plant waste to earth is not necessarily appropriate for the human body,” Dennis Poust, executive director of the organization, said in a statement.
“Human bodies are not household waste and we don’t believe the process meets the standard of respectful treatment of our earthly remains,” he said.
Katrina Spade, the founder of Recompose, a full-service green funeral home in Seattle that offers human composting, said it offered an alternative for people who wanted to align the arrangement of their remains with how their lives lived. their lives.
He said it “seems like a movement” among environmentalists.
“Cremation uses fossil fuels and burial uses a lot of land and has a carbon footprint,” Spade said. “For many people, being turned into land that can be turned into a garden or a tree has a big impact.”
___
Maysoon Khan is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places reporters on local newsrooms to report on underreported issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on Twitter at: twitter.com/MaysoonKhan.
Maysoon Khan, The Associated Press
