Washington legalizes the recycling of human bodies into fertilizer

Washington became the first US state to legitimize human composting after their environmentally-friendly governor signed a bill in an effort to cut carbon emissions from burial. and cremation.

The new law will take effect in May 2020, those who die in the state will have an additional option to turn the body of the post-mortem into suitable soil for use in gardening. This process is called recycling .

"Recycling provides an alternative to mummification and burial or cremation is a natural, safe, sustainable process and will help save significant amounts of carbon and land use" , Katrina Spade, the advocate of the law and the founder of Recompose, said. Seattle-based Recompose is considered the first company to provide services.

Dead people in Washington state will have the option to recycle the body into a soil suitable for use in gardening.

"The idea of ​​returning to nature directly and being returned to the whirlpool of life and death is actually quite nice," Spade added in a statement to AFP.

She said she began to care about the idea about 10 years ago after turning 30 and thinking more about her own death.

Spade then began examining the technical aspects to create an environmentally friendly "third option that could compete with the US $ 20 billion funeral industry, which provides translation. Common burial and cremation service.

Her research - developed by Washington State University, which conducted clinical trials with donors - a dead person placed in a hexagonal steel container filled with wood chips, alfalfa and straw.

The bins are then closed and the body is decomposed by the bacteria within 30 days. The final product is a dry, rich nutrient soil like what people would buy in a local nursery and is suitable for vegetable gardens.

"Everything - including bones and teeth - is restructured ," Spade said. "That's because our technology creates a perfect environment for thermophilic bacteria and beneficial bacteria to break things down pretty quickly."

The technology used by Recompose is like the process that has been used for decades with farm animals and clinical trials conducted by universities in Washington suggest it is also safe to use with human.

The people of Washington state are now the first people in the US to be allowed to handle dead bodies in a natural decay manner and use them as fertilizer to limit harm to the environment.

The new bill will change the laws of Washington state previously related to the management and settlement of the remains of dead people, to allow for two new alternatives, alkaline hydrolysis (also known as waterbending). ) and recycling .

Hydrogeology is a process in which the dead body is placed in an alkaline solution with potassium hydroxide to disintegrate tissue, leaving only the dead bone. Recycling is a composting method to decompose dead bodies to make fertilizer for planting trees.

"There are currently about 16 states that allow the disposal of remains through alkaline hydrolysis; Washington alone will be the first state to allow the disposal of human bodies by means of composting for recycling" - Senator Ped Peden said. .