Bloomberg Law
May 21, 2019, 11:33 PM

Human Composting Now a Climate Fighting Final Wish in Washington

Paul Shukovsky
Paul Shukovsky
Staff Correspondent

There’s a new option for fighting climate change in Washington state: composting your remains.

Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed into law May 21 a bill making it legal to compost bodies, a process being dubbed “recomposition.”

Under the measure, bodies can be laid to rest at facilities licensed to handle the accelerated human decomposition.

Over several weeks, microbes transform the remains into “a cubic yard of soil that is indistinguishable from any other soil and could be used just about anywhere,” Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D), prime sponsor of the bill, told fellow lawmakers at a public hearing on the measure. ...

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