In the past, family members of those who died in California had a couple choices, burial or cremation. Now, there’s another choice, composting.
The governor signs a new law allowing a process called Natural Organic Reduction. It involves placing a human corpse in a steel vessel and covering it with materials like wood chips, alfalfa and straw until the body decomposes. The remains are ultimately returned to family members or they can be mixed into soil in a conservation area.
Human composting is already allowed in the states of Washington, Oregon and Colorado. In Seattle, a funeral home called Recompose offers the composting service for $7,000. It takes about 6-8 weeks.
California officials must come up with regulations by 2027. The proposal was introduced by assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, a Bell Garden democrat. She says we must do everything we can to reduce methane and CO2 emissions. She says, climate change is real.
The California Catholic conference opposes the process. They say it reduces bodies to a “disposable commodity.”
