Human composting will soon replace ashes to ashes, and dust to dust

Currently, the California Health and Safety Code provides two methods of disposition of deceased Californians. The California law covering disposition of the deceased is covered in the Cemetery and Funeral Act, as well as Health and Safety Code Sections §7300 - §7500 et seq. Under these sections, there are two options available to Californians: Burial and Cremation.

However, according to a bill signed by Governor Newsom, a third option will be available; Natural Human Reduction (also known as Human Composting or Reduction of Human Remains). This bill was initially introduced by California Representative Cristina Garcia (58th District, Bell Gardens) in February 2020. Due to delays (caused primarily by COVID-19), the bill was not presented to the Governor until September 2022, when it was signed.

The Bill, known as AB 351, provides for the licensing of businesses to furnish services of human composting. Human composting is already available in several states, including Washington, Oregon and Vermont. Other states have also considered this option and are in the process of enacting similar legislation.

Under AB 351, California is to begin licensing entities so that Human Composting in California can take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. Other requirements under AB 351 compel written agreements between the composting licensee and the representative of the deceased relating to the services to be provided, the disposition of the remains, such as where the remains will be deposited, and the date of disposition.

It should be noted that not everyone was happy with the passage of AB 351, including religious groups who felt that human composting does not provide the same respect to the deceased compared to other methods of disposition.

The benefits of human composting, as opposed to burial or cremation, are significant. In the United States, more than 2.7 million Americans die each year, of which about 60% are cremated.

To give an example of the impact on the environment of cremation, the amount of fuel required to cremate one adult human body is enough fuel to drive a car 611 miles. Further, the amount of carbon dioxide created by cremation is one ton per person, equivalent to burning 40 cylinders of propane.

With regard to burials, bodies consume valuable land. Further, those who are embalmed contain fluids such as formaldehyde, which can leach into our water supply. The breakdown of human bodies further creates carbon dioxide, as do all methods.

On the other hand, the compost created by Natural Human Reduction is used to fertilize plants, which creates oxygen. Thus, instead of the deceased being a burden on the environment, it becomes a benefit.

Without getting into unappetizing specifics, the process of human composting consists of placing the body into a sealed vessel. The body is then covered with compostable items such as tree bark, straw, and alfalfa. It takes approximately two weeks for the microbes to begin breaking down the body into compostable material. After about eight weeks, most of the composting is completed. Certain additional processes are performed to make sure that the compost is ready to be released into nature. In addition, family members who would like to obtain part of the compost for their own use may do so.

Californians who are interested in having their loved ones composted are not obliged to wait until 2027. Under Health and Safety Code §7355b, human bodies that have not been embalmed can be sent via common carrier (e.g. aircraft), provided a licensed funeral director prepares the body for shipment and takes it to the common carrier for shipment to a state which currently provides human composting services.

The human composting companies in those other states will pick up the deceased from the airport and bring it to their facility, where the process begins. At the end of the procedure the compost can either be disposed of by the facility, or part or all of the compost can be shipped back to the family in California. The compost created by an adult weighs about 400 lbs. and the size can fill up the back of a small pickup truck, which is why families may elect for a smaller portion with the balance disposed of by the facility.

Individuals interested in organ donation can still do so, provided the body is not embalmed and is taken to a harvesting facility immediately. Individuals who want to donate their body to science cannot elect human composting because bodies must first be embalmed, which eliminates the compost alternative.

The cost for Californians to compost in other states is still less than most burials, but more than cremation. It costs about $1,000 to ship a body from California to Oregon or Washington, and about $6,500 for the actual composting. Finally, there are costs to the California funeral director who prepared the body for shipment, as well as any optional fees for sending some of the compost back to California. Thus, the total cost is estimated at $10,000.

Below is a very partial list of three human composting companies in the State of Washington. According to one of those companies, their slogan is that ‘the body is being useful one last time.’ (With permission from Recompose.life.)

Here are the names of three companies in the State of Washington that provide human compositing to California residents. It is a partial list, and the reader is encouraged to perform their own research. The author has no affiliation with any of these companies.

Recompose.life206-800-8733 (TREE)

ReturnHome.com 206-888-4663

EarthFuneral.com 877-327-4109