More Dirt on Human Composting

 

by Pa Rock

Compost in Waiting

After penning yesterday's blog posting which centered on the current state of human composting in the United States, I decided to do a deeper dig into two of the Washington-based companies that were featured in the Rolling Stone article:  "Recompose," and "Return Home."  I wanted to know if they are accessible from the midwest, do they have pre-planning that would allow payment in advance, and what are the options with regard to the compost created in the process.  (I had learned from the magazine article that approximately one cubic yard of compost would be created through the process - or roughly a pickup load.  One of the websites that I visited indicated that could be anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds of compost.)

David Browne writing in Rolling Stone had described the price structure as ranging from five to eight thousand dollars, a price range that is below what I have personally experienced with regular funerals where grieving families pay for embalming services and a fancy box and cement burial vault along with anything else the funeral homes can shove off on them.  "Recompose" lists their price on their website as $7,000, and a representative from "Return Home" told me over the phone that they charge $4,950.  

For those of us who live beyond the Seattle catchment area for funerals, there would be, of course, an added cost of having the body shipped to the west coast.   I learned through my inquiries that is  coordinated with a local funeral home, and that the body must be shipped unembalmed, of course.  (I suspect that anyone who approached a local funeral home in my area with that sort of request, especially if they were to reveal the reason why they wanted their body shipped to Seattle unembalmed, would be the subject of intense conversation at every local coffee shop for weeks on end!)

Both companies had prearrangement payment plans, and each had a local nature-friendly area where compost could be deposited or scattered in the event that the family did not want it for their own uses.

Composting appears to not only be a better option for the earth and the environment than either traditional funerals or cremations, it also seems to be more economical - even for those of us who reside in the middle of the country, an area that is constantly late in experiencing the future.

I am quickly becoming a fan of the idea.   My future may well be as compost!