Humans Can Be Legally Composted In Washington, So How Does It Work?

Washington was the first state to make human composting legal, a venture that took its first steps last month, according to KRON 4.

Currently, there are three facilities in the state licensed to perform "natural organic reduction," or NOR. Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation in 2019 that approved alternative means of handling human human remains, which became effective in 2020. Walt Patrick, a senior steward at Herland Forest in Klickitat County, said NOR is is another way of returning bodies to the land.

“This is simply another option at a time when people feel they have no options,” Patrick said. “You know, death has intervened and changed your life forever. How can you do something at least to make it the way you want?”

Even though it reportedly took a while to get the NOR running in the Evergreen State, Herland Forest and Seattle-based Recompose got their first bodies back in December.

"Advocates say composting is a greener alternative to cremation because it uses less energy. It’s also the only legal way for Washingtonians to be laid to rest on their own property, albeit in the form of mulch," reporters wrote.

At Herland, a "giant wooden spool-shaped cradle" gets slowly rolled back and forth. A body is gradually turning into compost while inside, and KRON 4 said it's one of the first licensed NOR to be performed in the country. Wood chips are in the barrel along with bacteria, fungi and other organisms to help break the body down. Oxygen and high heat is added, as well.

When the process is done, the family of the person will have four, 55-gallon drums full of usable compost to use as they see fit.

“We’re in the cemetery business, so your customers are deciding what it is they want,” Patrick said. “That’s why we just built the one unit because we didn’t know what kind of interest people would have in it and we didn’t want to commit a huge amount of resources to a path that may or may not be well accepted.”

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content