For most Coloradans, there are two main choices after death: burial or cremation.
Representative Brianna Titone and Senator Robert Rodriguez plan to bring a bill to the General Assembly that would give Coloradans another legal option: they can have their bodies turned into soil.
The novel approach, known as “Natural Organic Reduction,” involves placing bodies in individual vessels and hastening gentle decomposition into a nutrient-dense soil that can then be returned to families. The result is a completely safe and economical method of final disposition that offers additional choice for people to direct their final wishes. The process is proven to be more environmentally sound than burial, which can leach chemicals into the ground, or cremation, which uses fossil fuels and releases earth-warming carbon dioxide. Given the rapid population growth in Colorado, sustainable and environmentally-friendly options have become increasingly vital.
Representative Titone and Senator Rodriguez are working to ensure that Colorado will become the second state to offer Natural Organic Reduction. “This service embodies the spirit of Colorado’s way of life. In addition to freedom of choice for consumers and a positive environmental impact, Natural Organic Reduction will also benefit Colorado by bringing in a new, unique business opportunity that complements the state’s entrepreneurial nature,” commented Representative Titone.
“It’s not easy to think about after-death choices. Natural Organic Reduction offers an alternative to embalming and burial or cremation that is natural, safe, sustainable, and will result in significant savings in carbon emissions and land usage,” said Recompose CEO and founder Katrina Spade, inventor of NOR. Recompose is a death care company who will be offering natural organic reduction services as soon as 2021.
“We look forward to working with Representative Titone and Senator Rodriguez to make sure this new alternative to conventional after-death practices is available to all Coloradans who want it.”
To underscore the safety and viability of the Natural Organic Reduction process, Recompose partnered with Dr. Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, professor of Soil Science at the College of Agriculture, Humans, and Natural Resources Sciences at Washington State University. The university’s 2018 study found that the process exceeds public health and EPA requirements by maintaining a temperature that kills viruses, bacteria, and pathogens as well as stabilizing heavy metals in the soil.
As cemeteries fill up and people look for more sustainable death care practices, Recompose hopes to one day offer its service to the Colorado public, so that friends and family can use the soil to plant a tree or memorial garden honoring loved ones.
About Natural Organic Reduction:
Natural Organic Reduction offers an additional choice for after-death care that is natural and sustainable. With significant savings in carbon emissions and land usage, it addresses increasing demand for green alternatives:
- Colorado has one of the highest cremation rates in the US at 74 percent. But cremation requires fossil fuels and emits CO2 into the atmosphere, polluting and contributing to climate change.
- Natural Organic Reduction uses 1/8 the energy of cremation, and saves over a metric ton of CO2 per person
- If every Colorado resident chose Natural Organic Reduction as their after-death preference, we would save nearly 1/2 million metric tons of CO2 in just 10 years. That’s the equivalent of the energy required to power 45,900 homes for a year.
To underscore the safety and viability of the Natural Organic Reduction process, Recompose partnered with Dr. Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, professor of Soil Science at the College of Agriculture, Humans, and Natural Resources Sciences at Washington State University. This 2018 study found:
- All safety thresholds were met as outlined by the Washington State Department of Ecology
- Heavy metals were well under EPA limits
- Reduction of over 95% was demonstrated in the pharmaceuticals that were tracked during the study.
From March through July 2018, Dr. Carpenter-Boggs and her team conducted a series of six trials to test the effectiveness of Natural Organic Reduction to break down the human body into its natural elements like nitrogen, amino acids, and phosphorus. Researchers in the project consulted with state officials to conform with state ecology guidelines and regulations for the handling and transportation of human remains. Increasing awareness of the environmental toll of current funeral practices was a catalyst in the development of protocols for the process.
“We are excited to have researched this new disposition option, because of its potential to sequester carbon and avoid the pollution caused by cremation and conventional burial,” said Dr. Carpenter-Boggs.
Dr.Carpenter-Boggs adapted techniques developed over two decades of composting livestock remains in agricultural settings, including prior research done at Washington State University. “We have found that the essential methods that we use for livestock mortality composting are also effective for human disposition,” she continued. “We have substantially changed the materials used, to be socially acceptable, but the basic principles that we have learned from livestock mortality composting are very effective for the human research subjects that we used.”
About Recompose
Recompose is a public benefit corporation that offers an alternative choice to cremation and conventional burial methods with a process called “Natural Organic Reduction.” This natural process gently transforms human remains into soil, so that we can nourish new life after we die. Founded by Katrina Spade in Seattle and formerly known as the Urban Death Project, Recompose supports legislative approval in Colorado for the patent-pending Natural Organic Reduction process that will save valuable urban land for other purposes while also decreasing pollution of our air and soil. Learn more about Recompose.