Recomposing Modern Burial Practices

At the end of our last discussion, I posed the question: How can our new funerary traditions and celebrations become sources of happiness, inspiration and ecological responsibility?

There have been many new remains disposal options popping up, and I’m really digging this one: Recompose.

^{“Become soil when you die
Death is profound, momentous, and beyond our understanding.
With an approach that is as practical as it is meaningful,
Recompose connects the end of life to the natural world.”} –Recompose.life

Those words greet you on the Seattle-based company’s website, giving a brief but pungent summary of the service they offer and why. Recompose is a modern funerary option that was developed out of both personal desire and societal need. Rather than become a chemical hazard that leaks into the soil over time, you can now become the soil itself and provide a rich, nutritious foundation for foliage to grow.

I appreciate the clever naming, changing decomposition – the process of wasting away – into REcomposition, which sounds much more positive and hopeful. It truly is. With this process, your physical body is given a new form, not only reducing the amount of harm that traditional burials and cremations cause to the planet, but also giving back to it and being a part of its future. Recompose allows you to live on in a different way.

Its Precompose package allows you to pre-pay for your care after death. By pre-paying, you can assure your chosen arrangements are all set while ensuring the future of the Recompose practice.

This method of disposal is perfect for those who wish to take action against the destruction of our earth. Once your body is composted, there is the option to donate the soil to the 700 acres of Bells Mountain conservation forest. Or, for an additional cost, a recipient can be named and Recompose will ship the full yard of soil produced to that person. Then, the recipient can use the soil in their home garden or spread it in a place of your choosing.

For $5,500, you receive this service along with what they call the laying-in ceremony, transport to the facility within a certain local radius, as well as the death certificate. They do accept out-of-state bodies, but transportation is not included in those cases. Currently, their appropriately-named Greenhouse facility has a 10-body capacity per month. If any bodies come in while at capacity, they use cold storage to keep them fresh.

This price is already more affordable than the standard funeral, but if you feel that amount is hefty, they even offer monthly payment options so you can pay off the balance over time before the big event. You can also buy it as a gift for others, and it is still 90% refundable after 30 days of purchase.

The laying-in ceremony is simply the process of putting a person’s body into a specially designed vessel along with plant material and microbes which help to transform the person into soil. You can customize this ceremony like any funeral depending on your faith and preferences, with prayer, music, etc.

How does the environmental impact of this process stack up against traditional burial?

Firstly, it reduces the human carbon footprint by one metric ton every time a human is composted rather than buried or cremated. According to its website, Recompose uses 1/8 of the energy of those traditional methods.

It also removes the need for embalming fluid. As we talked about before, those chemicals are very harmful to the funerary workers, the environment, wildlife and potentially the water table. Think about how much healthier the earth could be if we all chose a less toxic, or in this case non-toxic, alternative.

Not only does Recompose reduce toxic contamination, but it also goes a step further to produce healthy soil, which is essential to the survival and thriving of the entire world including temperature regulation.

Rather than wasting the resources we have left at death with cremation or burial, you can utilize those resources and take action and ecological responsibility, even in death.

For more information, visit Recompose.life or email info@recompose.life.

The Environmental Impacts of Death

Go Green! We hear this all the time. Now more than a trend and as a response to an ever-growing need to be eco-conscious, the green movement has become a centerpiece of discussion in our society in everyday life. 

But what about in death?  How green are our current burial practices? 

If you’re lucky like myself, you don’t have a lot of firsthand experience with death (knock on wood!) So, if you’re like me, the first thing we need to do to answer this question is to look at what all actually goes into the burial process.

There are many choices on how to dispose of remains that all come with their own set of ecological impacts, but for our purposes, we are going to focus on burial specifically. 

First, there is the embalming process. The body is disinfected. The extremities are massaged to loosen them up. The eyelids are secured shut either using glue or plastic inserts. The lower jaw is set using either wires or sewing. 

After the positioning of the corpse, the blood is then removed from the veins and replaced with embalming fluid, a potent chemical solution. All of the internal organs are punctured in order to release any gas or liquid. They are also injected with the embalming solution.

Once the chemicals are in place, the face of the corpse is then made more acceptable for viewing using makeup. The body will be dressed in clothing and accessories as chosen by the family. The body is placed in a casket, which can be made of metal, wood or fiberglass. This ends the process before the funeral service.

Regardless of personal experience, we are a little more familiar with this part. The family stands around crying. The priest is praying, maybe. The casket is lowered down into a hole in the ground. Later, a headstone will be placed to mark the burial. Everyone disperses to drink wine, eat cheese, and leave the grieving family with many casseroles that taste like sadness. 

What is in embalming fluid that is so toxic? 

Formaldehyde. Phenol. Methanol. Glycerin. All of which are either carcinogens or will irritate or burn you if it comes in contact with your eyes, nose, throat, skin or lungs. 

The workers who prepare the bodies are exposed to these harmful chemicals first, and then it gets into our soil. Almost 3 million people died in 2019. Thankfully, they didn’t all choose burial as their disposal method. However, it is still estimated that more than 800,000 gallons of those chemicals are released into the earth each year due to our burial practices. 

Then, we have the plastic fibers in clothing and accessories we dress the dead in and other trinkets we might throw along with them. They don’t need these belongings, but nevertheless, we litter the planet with more plastic.  

At first glance, the caskets don’t seem like a big deal, right? Wrong. The wood caskets used every year are made from millions of acres of trees. We could use this wood for more important tasks, like building homes. Or, hey, we could not cut down the trees at all and keep our ecosystems in tact and our air clean.

Let’s go deeper now into maintenance. It isn’t enough to preserve our loved ones and say goodbye. We keep going back to see them. And since some people choose to revisit their buried friend or family member anywhere from every couple of hours to every day to once a week or once a year, it creates a need for a well-maintained yard containing the bodies. 

Gallons of water and more chemicals are needed for this upkeep. Again, the chemicals used for landscaping are usually toxic and can harm our water supply and wildlife. Not to mention all the land space that’s taken up just filled with dead bodies. What better ways can you think of to use the 1 million acres at least of cemetery lands? 

We know plastic is a problem. We know deforestation is an issue. We know protecting our planet, wildlife and water supply is more important than ever. Not just in the United States, but all over the world. 

When it comes to the dead, our convictions should not be tossed aside or ignored just because this is the traditional way. Like many old traditions, it will take some time to phase out the norm. We need to find new ways to honor them while keeping in mind the facts we know now. We need to be mindful of our impact on the planet. 

And if going green isn’t really your thing, think about this: The average funeral costs almost $7500. And the funeral industry is not shy about trying to get you to upgrade or purchase add-ons. Like every other material industry, we are pressured and feel the need to keep up with the Joneses. We need the best casket and the best outfit and the best headstone for the best spot in the cemetery. I don’t know about you, but if I needed to respect the wishes of a relative tomorrow, I simply wouldn’t be able to afford it. 

I think it is important to honor and respect our relatives and dear friends, remember and memorialize them. We should do it in a way that doesn’t cause a family to go into debt, another struggle to add to losing someone dear. 

How can we start to change our ideas surrounding death and burial?

It starts with conversations and awareness. It is amazing that in 2021, talking about death is still considered taboo or impolite conversation. It is my opinion that if we can have more honest conversations about death, we could have a more unified understanding of something I believe is at the very center:

Our living bodies and our material belongings will not be joining us on the other side.

For those of us who believe in something more than you live-you die, our souls should be the focus of our passing. Making sure that our soul is pure, making sure what we leave behind is not chemicals and jewels in a casket made from the forests, but instead we should leave behind a positive legacy of memories that inspires others to truly live and appreciate what time has been gifted to them. 

When we understand this and we focus on our souls, the state of our physical being becomes a non-issue and we can embrace cheaper, more eco-friendly ways to say goodbye.

I will leave you with this thought: How can our new funerary traditions and celebrations become sources of happiness, inspiration and ecological responsibility?

I would love to hear your thoughts so don’t forget to comment!