Humans could soon be disposed of the same way as rotten food.
Body composting is actually becoming a thing now. It is currently legal in two states —Washington and Colorado — with others expected to follow soon.
“It accomplishes the conversion of the body back into a very beneficial substance — soil, earth,” says Seth Viddal, owner of The Natural Funeral in Lafayette, Colorado.
So far almost 90 bodies have been turned into soil in Washington State and hundreds more are on a waiting list, according to The Associated Press.
Viddal — like some of his competitors — places his clients into specially crafted wooden boxes, approximately seven feet long, three feet wide and three feet tall. After a few months, the carton is opened so items like pacemakers, prosthetics and teeth can be removed.
Large bones are returned and the vessel is resealed for another three months.
“In six months, the body, wood chips and straw will transform into enough soil to fill the bed of a pickup truck. Family members can keep the soil to spread in their yards, but Colorado law forbids selling it and using it commercially to grow food for human consumption and only allows licensed funeral homes and crematories to compost human bodies.”
One body can create a few hundred pounds of soil, according to Recompose, a human composting company located in Washington, D.C.
The company also notes that turning a human into fertilizer “requires one-eighth of the energy used in conventional burial or cremation” and saves “one metric ton of carbon dioxide per person.”
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