Ecological death is digging its hole in the United States. New York State just authorized the practice of human composting. It’s the last U.S. state to do so, meaning this funeral approach is now legal throughout the United States.
At a time when ecological issues are taking hold in everyone’s mind, the topic of death – burial or cremation – has led to an alternative still unknown in France: human composting.
This method of burial, or should we say humusation, consists of place the body of the deceased in a steel coffin containing wood shavings, alfalfa and straw. The microorganisms naturally present in these plants will then, for about a month, transform everything into a cubic meter of compost, which can be reused to enrich the soil. We are talking about “natural organic reduction“you hate”terramation“.
Banned in France, this funeral method was first authorized in 2019 in the state of Washington. Other states soon followed suit.
While the idea of gradually decomposing may delay, it may still make it possiblesave more than a ton of carbon compared to traditional cremation or burial, according to Recompose, the industry’s leading company. Finally, a very fertile compost, to grow beautiful flowers, beautiful vegetables or to grow trees, which will in turn store carbon.
Another advantage of this approach is the reduction of the space needed by the deceased, as each coffin is emptied after a month, where our cemeteries often lack space to accommodate our deceased.
Speaking to the microphones of the New York Post, the Return Home company hailed “a great step forward for the accessibility of ecological assistance to death on a national scale”. A point of view not shared by the Catholic bishops of the State of New York, for which the bodies should not be treated as “household waste”.
Legal in Sweden, human composting is prohibited in France, as are natural burials, without a coffin or in a biodegradable coffin. A particularly licensed option in the UK.
