Q. In May, Nevada became the seventh state to legalize human composting—the natural organic reduction of a body into soil. With 10 other states considering the green alternative to conventional burial and cremation, will human composting go mainstream?
 
A. Human composting, which emerged in 2018 with the work of Katrina Spade in Washington State, is, hands down, the most environmentally friendly death care option. It doesn’t use fossil fuel like cremation—which produces about 360,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year—and it doesn’t require the casket and cemetery resources of burial. 
 
Composting is nature’s way of recycling. The process converts organic material into nutrient-rich soil that nourishes new life through natural decomposition. Microbes feed on the material and use carbon and nitrogen to grow and reproduce, water to digest the materials, and oxygen to breathe. 
 
The process is much the same for human composting. The body is placed on a bed of wood chips, mulch, and flowers in a steel cylinder vessel system, which maintains a temperature of at least 131 degrees to kill off pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella and break down heavy metals. After five to seven weeks, the soil is tested to ensure it’s safe, then set aside to cure for a few more weeks before being returned to the family. 
 
People who don’t understand the science can get a little queasy about Grandma ending up on a tomato plant—but there is something beautiful about returning to the earth and feeding more healthy bodies. For soil to perform the miracles we’re asking of it, it needs all the organic matter we can give it. If someone wants to be part of the solution, human composting is a good way to do it.