LOS ANGELES, United States – Washington on Tuesday became the first US state to legalize human composting after its eco-friendly governor signed a bill to that effect in a bid to cut carbon emissions from burials and cremations. Her approach — developed with Washington State University, which did clinical trials with donor bodies — calls for a dead person to be placed in an hexagonal steel container filled with wood chips, alfalfa and straw. ‘Socially acceptable materials’“We have found that the essential methods that we use for livestock mortality composting are also effective for human disposition,” said Dr Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, a professor of soil science at Washington State University. In Washington state, nearly 75 percent of people choose that option. But not everyone is enthusiastic about turning bodies into garden-variety soil, notably the Catholic church, which has denounced recomposition as undignified.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer May 21, 2019 23:03 UTC