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| Just think — someday you, too, could look like this environmentally beneficial.. |
Planning on dying in Washington state? Lucky you! If Senator Jamie Pedersen gets his way, you may have the option of having your dead body composted. The bill, which Pedersen plans to introduce in this month’s state legislature, seeks to legalize “recomposing” — placing human remains in a vessel and allowing them to rapidly decompose into nutrient-rich soil.
According to Recompose, the corporation responsible for the actual composting, recomposition is both less expensive and more environmentally friendly than burial — which leaches harmful toxins into the surrounding soil and groundwater — and cremation, which releases approximately 540 pounds of carbon dioxide per body.
Recompose, on the other hand, places the shrouded, un-embalmed remains in a vessel on a bed of organic material — wood chips, alfalfa, straw —while air pumped periodically into the pod accelerates body-metabolizing microbial activity. Altogether, it takes approximately one month — at the relatively low cost of $5,500 — to reduce the remains to a cubic yard of compost.
Of course, naysayers gonna naysay — and in the bill’s case, some of the most strident opposition may end up coming from Roman Catholic Church, which could deem the separation of body parts to be theologically problematic (an earlier version of the bill was shot down due in part to the church, according to Pedersen). However, Pedersen, who has already signed up several co-sponsors in the state senate, remains optimistic about the legislation’s chances.
Assuming it passes, it will take effect May 1, 2020 — perhaps fundamentally changing the way we view death, decay and, ultimately, rebirth.
Editor’s Questions:
1. Is this something you’d want your survivors to consider for you when you shuck off your mortal coil?
2. How would you feel about sinking next summer’s tomato plants into Uncle Jimmy’s final cubic yard?
Provide your answers below (click the tiny comment link) or on our Facebook page
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