Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation Tuesday making Washington the first state to approve composting as an alternative to burying or cremating human remains.<\/p>\n
It allows licensed facilities to offer \u201cnatural organic reduction,\u201d which turns a body, mixed with substances such as wood chips and straw, into about two wheelbarrows\u2019 worth of soil in a span of several weeks.<\/p>\n
Loved ones are allowed to keep the soil to spread, just as they might spread the ashes of someone who has been cremated \u2014 or even use it to plant vegetables or a tree.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives meaning and use to what happens to our bodies after death,\u201d said Nora Menkin, executive director of the Seattle-based People\u2019s Memorial Association, which helps people plan for funerals.<\/p>\n
Supporters say the method is an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation, which releases carbon dioxide and particulates into the air, and conventional burial, in which people are drained of their blood, pumped full of formaldehyde and other chemicals that can pollute groundwater, and placed in a nearly indestructible coffin, taking up land.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ashes to ashes, guts to dirt: Washington becomes first state to allow composting of human remains. @AP<\/a>: https:\/\/t.co\/A983MSF7FM<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Gene Johnson (@GeneAPseattle) May 21, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n