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The new California law legalizes the composting of the human body!

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Things in California are getting more and more “unique”. A new law signed last weekend by California Governor Gavin Newsom will now allow Golden State residents to turn their bodies into compost at their death.

Yes, you are reading this correctly.

Specifically, the new law requires California authorities to develop regulations and practices for so-called “natural organic reduction” by 2027.

If you can believe it, California isn’t even the first blue state to legalize this practice.

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How it works

Washington State Blue Companion became the first in the country in 2019, followed by Colorado, Oregon and Vermont.

So what gives? A Seattle-area funeral home called Recompose explains on their website how the process works. The “beneficial microbes” that occur in the human body and the environment are the basis of the practice.

The body is wrapped and placed in a box with plenty of wood shavings, alfalfa and straw, and left to decompose for 30 days.

According to the funeral home’s website, each human body can produce one cubic meter of soil “amendment”, which is just a fancy way of saying that the decaying human body is turned into fertilizer.

Then it’s back to earth.

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The pro-compost argument

Proponents of the practice point to the environmental side effects of the two current options, burial or cremation. A National Geographic estimate indicates that a cremation can produce an average of 534.6 pounds of carbon dioxide. The total number of cremations in the United States each year is approximately 360,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

If one chooses to be buried instead of cremated, there are other considerations. Bury a human body, it takes about three gallons of embalming fluid. Embalming fluid contains elements such as formaldehyde, methanol and ethanol. These chemicals can penetrate the soil.

Surprisingly, the costs involved behind the process are not huge. The the cost of the service is between $5,000 and $7,000, which makes it a bit cheaper than a funeral, but will cost a bit more than cremation.

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The ethics of everything

Obviously, there are ethical issues that need to be addressed. The Colorado law states that the soil of several organizations cannot be combined without consent. Additionally, the soil cannot be sold or used to grow food for human consumption.

(It is a relief.)

In California, the new law states that bringing together the remains of multiple people is prohibited unless they are related. However, California does not explicitly prohibit the sale of the soil or its use for growing food for human consumption.

Also in California, the new law has caught the attention of the Catholic Church, saying the practice “reduces the human body to a mere disposable commodity.”

Kathleen Domingo is the executive director of the Catholic Conference of California. She states that “NOR (Natural Organic Reduction) essentially uses the same process as a home garden composting system.”

She added: “These disposal methods were used to reduce the risk of disease transmission from the dead carcass. The use of these same methods for the “transformation” of human remains can create an unfortunate spiritual, emotional and psychological estrangement from the deceased. »

While most Californians may not care about the afterlife or spiritual effects, how many will be happy to bite into their next salad?

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