TNI Bureau: After-death rites include cremation or burial no matter what country are we talking about. These procedures are not completely considered environment-friendly. But there is someone who found a unique and innovative way to end these things.
New York brought the concept of Human Composting that is a person can now have their body turned into the soil after their death and become the latest US state to allow this method. Over a few weeks, a body is left in a container to decompose. “Natural organic reduction” is another name for this procedure.
The first state to legalize this method was Washington in 2019; it was later followed by Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, and California. New York is not the first state to allow this practice. Human composting is already permitted in Sweden and throughout the world.
A body is placed in a sealed container with chosen materials like woodchips, alfalfa, and straw grass, and it decomposes over time with the help of bacteria.
After approximately a month, the soil is given to loved ones after it has been heated to kill any infectious agents. Use this for planting trees, veggies, or flowers.
Human composting promoters are hopeful that it will help to mitigate the climate issue brought on by the burning of fossil fuels, which emits greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane that warm the earth. Cremations use a lot of fuel; according to Chemical & Engineering News, a journal of the American Chemical Society, cremating one corpse releases 418 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the same amount as driving 470 miles in a car.
In their opinion, human composting has environmental advantages, but it also has health advantages for those who work in funeral homes. The personnel at funeral homes will be shielded from exposure to high amounts of formaldehyde, which has been linked to uncommon malignancies and myeloid leukemia if more people choose to compost human remains.
According to Green Burial Council Inc., a company that sets certification requirements for cemeteries, funeral homes, and product companies engaged in sustainable burial practices, cremations in the United States contribute 1.74 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
Human composting, on the other hand, doesn’t require any energy or fossil fuels, making it the ideal choice. In reality, it also prevents the entry of non-biodegradable materials like concrete or plastic vaults, lacquers, or steel coffins into the air or the ground and the destruction of forests for wood coffins. Human composting benefits soil and plants in addition to releasing fewer pollutants into the air.