Composting of human bodies now legal in Washington state

GOYABEAN

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Ashes to ashes, guts to dirt.

Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation Tuesday making Washington the first state to approve composting as an alternative to burying or cremating human remains.
It allows licensed facilities to offer "natural organic reduction," which turns a body, mixed with substances such as wood chips and straw, into about two wheelbarrows' worth of soil in a span of several weeks.

Loved ones are allowed to keep the soil to spread, just as they might spread the ashes of someone who has been cremated — or even use it to plant vegetables or a tree.

"It gives meaning and use to what happens to our bodies after death," said Nora Menkin, executive director of the Seattle-based People's Memorial Association, which helps people plan for funerals.

Supporters say the method is an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation, which releases carbon dioxide and particulates into the air, and conventional burial, in which people are drained of their blood, pumped full of formaldehyde and other chemicals that can pollute groundwater, and placed in a nearly indestructible coffin, taking up land.

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:headbang: those tomatoes are going to be huge

Composting of human bodies now legal in Washington state
 
ArmedCorgi

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In.ter.es.ting...can't say I'm against it, just don't know if I'm for it. But I will say, it's neat in the sense that you could have your deceased loved one turned into soil and you could plant a tree or some shit that your loved one breaths life into..a living memory if you will.
 
S&W Fan

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I heard about this on the Bob & Tom show on the way to work this morning.
People who drove past me must have though that I was off my rocker
I was laughing so hard.
 
prambo

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Podmonkey said:
Yeah, I don't have a problem with this at all. I even think it's a good way to go. I always though I'd like to be buried and have a tree planted on top of my corpse so whatever is left of me becomes part of the tree.
Click to expand...

Have to agree with that sentiment. I'd just want the tree planted in a free state...if there are still any left.

My favorite option would be to have my ashes scattered in Kenya at the base of either Ololokwe or Nzaui.
 
subsonic

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Podmonkey said:
Yeah, I don't have a problem with this at all. I even think it's a good way to go. I always thought I'd like to be buried and have a tree planted on top of my corpse so whatever is left of me becomes part of the tree.
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You can already do this with a traditional burial. Lots of old family cemeteries in the country, or the new "green/natural" burial cemeteries, and I like that notion. I don't see the advantage of being processed in a compost heap in a warehouse; way too soylent for me. But if they want to sell this and someone wants to buy it then if they are honest I don't see why they shouldn't be have that right.
 
gun_slinger_boy

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Bad idea. Humans tend to be riddled with parasites by the time they die. You would also be susceptible to many diseases. You don't wanna grow stuff out of human remains. Not to eat at least. And don't step on the stuff if you're only growing a tree.
 
subsonic

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gun_slinger_boy said:
Bad idea. Humans tend to be riddled with parasites by the time they die. You would also be susceptible to many diseases. You don't wanna grow stuff out of human remains. Not to eat at least. And don't step on the stuff if you're only growing a tree.
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High-temperature composting kills the bad stuff. They already distribute composted sewage sludge, and you're not advised to put it on your veggies, but it shouldn't have any disease.

After all, in nature everything dies and eventually turns into soil.

I'm sure they'll tell people not to put this on food plants too, and I'm sure some hippies will ignore that as well. But it's more just being conservative and avoiding disgust, rather than any significant health risk if it's done remotely correctly.

The only thing I can imagine could be risky would be prions if someone had CJD/kuru/mad cow. That shit survives just about anything. Supposedly not composting though.
 
Uzi

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Worms and grubs don't discriminate between human remians when you feed your deceased loved ones to them. The thought is warming and loving anyways. Ground human also sounds good for burger patties too if they're fresher. I'm getting hungry just thinking about all the possibilities now.
 
Podmonkey

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subsonic said:
You can already do this with a traditional burial. Lots of old family cemeteries in the country, or the new "green/natural" burial cemeteries, and I like that notion. I don't see the advantage of being processed in a compost heap in a warehouse; way too soylent for me. But if they want to sell this and someone wants to buy it then if they are honest I don't see why they shouldn't be have that right.
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Traditional burial means your are locked up in a casket and sealed into a concrete underground vault. I wanna be right up in the tree roots.
Since I'll be dead though I don't really care that much, but becoming part of a tree seems cool.
 
MothMan

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I want to be cremated and my ashes spread on a wet kettle hole, marsh, on my property that is the start of a tributary that feeds Oneida Lake. I figure in a few eons I will be everywhere!!

No effin cemeteries for me.
 
Catskillkid

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Uzi said:
Worms and grubs don't discriminate between human remians when you feed your deceased loved ones to them. The thought is warming and loving anyways. Ground human also sounds good for burger patties too if they're fresher. I'm getting hungry just thinking about all the possibilities now.
Click to expand...

"A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm."
-Hamlet
 
Podmonkey

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I am very pleased with how we disposed of my Father's remains, I'm positive he would have been also.
He was cremated and spent a 2 years in my brother's home with his grandchildren then last summer we took his ashes to Beaverdam Lake in Wisconsin, the town and lake of his childhood summers. We went out on my Cousin's husband's boat (real good guy) and spread his ashes just offshore from the lakeside cottage he and his family spent their summers in. We all said a few words, told some funny Dad stories but the best tribute by far was spending the next few days boating, waterskiing, cooking brats, drinking beer and just generally having a really fun time with family. My Father would have appreciated that.
When I grew up we had a boat and my family did all that same stuff on our summers, just as he did in his childhood. I suppose I myself wouldn't mind having my ashes spread over lake Erie in remembrance of those happy times.
 
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