New York legalizes composting with human remains – News

New York, in the United States, has become the sixth state in the country to legalize natural organic reduction, otherwise known as human composting. With this process, people can convert their bodies into organic compounds for fertilizer.

And the state’s governor, Democrat Kathy Hochul, signed the law last Saturday (31). The process is considered “environmentally conscious” because it is a more sustainable alternative to burial or cremation.

In 2019, Washington state became the first state in the United States to approve human composting. In 2021, Colorado and Oregon followed, then Vermont and California in 2022.

According to Time magazine, the process consists of leaving the body along with plant matter in a sealed chamber so that it can decompose efficiently in about a month.

The result is a nutrient-rich material equivalent to 36 bags of soil that can be used in forests or gardens.

Katrina Speed, founder of Recompose, a green funeral home in Seattle that offers human compost, told Time that the service is an alternative for anyone who wants their remains aligned with the sustainable way they’ve chosen to live.