New York has become the sixth state in the United States to legalize natural organic reduction, popularly known as human composting, as a burial method.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the legislation on Saturday. Washington was the first state to legalize human composting in 2019, followed by Colorado and Oregon in 2021 and Vermont and California in 2022.
“I am committed to having my body composted and my family knows it,” Howard Fischer, a 63-year-old investor who lives north of New York City, told The Associated Press. “Whatever my family decides to do with the compost after it’s done is up to them.”
The alternative green method of burial aligns with Fischer’s philosophical vision of life: living in an environmentally conscious way.
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Guests sit in the gathering space looking at a wrapped mannequin in front of the threshold bin at Recompose, an eco-friendly funeral home that specializes in human composting, also known as natural organic reduction, terramation, or recomposting at Recompose Seattle on October 6, 2022 in Seattle, Wash.
(Mat Hayward/Getty Images to Recompose)
The process involves placing the body of the deceased in a reusable container, along with plant material such as wood chips, alfalfa, and straw. The organic blend creates the perfect habitat for natural microbes to do their job, quickly and efficiently breaking down the body in about a month.
The end result is a cubic yard pile of nutrient-dense soil amendment—the equivalent of about 36 bags of soil—that can be used to plant trees or enrich conservation land, forests, or gardens.
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A small box of soil that was once a human sits on a table at Recompose, a green funeral home that specializes in human composting at Recompose Seattle on October 6, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. Human composting is also known as natural organic reduction, terramation, or recomposition.
(Mat Hayward/Getty Images to Recompose)
For urban areas like New York City, where land is limited, it can be seen as quite an attractive burial alternative.
Although human composting is now legal in The Empire State, not everyone is on board with the idea.
“A process that is perfectly appropriate for returning vegetable trimmings to the ground is not necessarily appropriate for human bodies,” Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, said in a statement. “Human bodies are not household waste and we do not believe the process meets the standard of reverent treatment of our earthly remains.”
Two people look at a mannequin wrapped inside the Threshold Vessel in the Gathering Space at Recompose, a green funeral home specializing in human composting, also known as natural organic reduction, terracing, or recomposting at Recompose Seattle on October 6, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.
(Mat Hayward/Getty Images to Recompose)
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“Cremation uses fossil fuels and burial uses a lot of land and has a carbon footprint,” said Katrina Spade, founder of Recompose, a full-service green funeral home in Seattle that offers human compost. “For many people, becoming land that can be converted to grow into a garden or a tree is quite a shock.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.
