Did you know that Colorado passed a law last year that allows human remains to be turned into compost? Someone just got around to doing it for the first time there last weekend.
The friendlier phrasing is “natural reduction” which sounds like it belongs on a cooking show. Anyway, a funeral home in Florence, Colorado, laid to rest the first naturally reduced human remains last Sunday.
It’s not a quick process. This person, who is literally considered soil when it’s done, was placed in a chamber six months ago. Some straw, wood chips, alfalfa, and a lot of microbiological things were tossed in as well. When it’s done, you get about a pickup bed’s worth of soil. This particular person was laid to rest in the Colorado Burial Preserve, a dedicated green cemetery. Attendees at the service were invited to spread seeds into the remains at the end.
There are 15 other deceased Colorado people in the process of “natural reduction” right now. It’s also legal in Washington and Oregon.