Lafayette, Colorado (AP) — Seth Vidal deals with life and death in a warehouse on the outskirts of Denver between a car repair shop and a computer recycling business.
He and one of his employees have created a “container” that heralds the era of more environmentally friendly funeral science, including the reduction of the body’s natural organic matter, also known as body composting.
“This is a natural process by which the body quickly returns to elemental levels,” said Vidal, who likened it to composting food waste and garden waste in the backyard. “This is the same process, but in the human body inside the blood vessels, and in our case in a controlled environment.”
On September 7, Colorado became the second state after Washington, enabling composting of the human body. Oregon will allow practice from July next year. In Washington, more than 900 people have registered for the service as three businesses that have been allowed to compost bodies since the law came into force in May 2020 have transformed at least 85 organizations and the popularity of natural burial has grown. bottom.
Viddal, co-owner of Lafayette’s The Natural Funeral, urged the Colorado State Capitol to offer options and began building prototype ships in the industrial zone shortly after the bipartisan bill was passed.
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Based on the design used in Washington, the insulated wooden box is about 7 feet (2 meters) long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep, lined with waterproof roofing, and wood chips and straw. Is packed. Two large spool wheels on each end allow you to roll across the floor, providing the oxygenation, agitation and absorption your body needs to make compost.
Vidal calls this process an “exciting ecological option,” and when he dies he also sees life.
“Composting itself is a very living function and is performed by living things …. There are billions of microbial creatures in our digestive tract, which are contained in our bodies. And when one of our lives ends, the lives of those microbes do not stop, “he said.
Approximately three months later, the container is opened, the “soil” is filtered, and medical devices such as prostheses, pacemakers, and joint replacements are used. The remaining large bone is then crushed and returned to the container for an additional 3 months of composting. Teeth are removed to prevent mercury contamination in the filling.
To kill bacteria and pathogens, the ship must reach 131 degrees Fahrenheit (55 degrees Celsius) for 72 consecutive hours. High temperatures occur naturally when the body is destroyed in a sealed box.
In half a year, the body, pieces of wood, and straw turn into enough soil to fill the bed of the pickup truck. Although families can keep the soil spread in the garden, Colorado law prohibits and permits the sale of soil for commercial use to grow foods for human consumption. The human body can only be composted at funeral halls and crematoriums.
“It achieves the return of the body to a very beneficial substance, the soil, the earth,” said Viddal, who envisions making more than 50 body composting vessels.
Natural funerals charge $ 7,900 for composting the body, compared to $ 2,200 for cremation, and Viddal states that traditional burials and services in the Denver region can be performed well in excess of $ 10,000. .. The company hasn’t composted any of the groups yet, but some people have registered and paid for the service.
Boulder’s 40-year-old AJ Killeen is already interested in composting his body when he dies, even though he is relatively young.
After a car accident a few years ago, doctors discovered that Killeen had heart disease. It made Killeen think about what would happen to his body after he died, and composting seemed like a natural fit.
“What’s going on anyway? So basically, we’re all going to look at the dust, so this is a bit more natural,” he said. “They control humidity. They control soil conditioners and hopefully some worms and some mushrooms will find a good home in me for months. And you I know, on the other side of it, I get only a few bags of dirt. “
Killeen, who manages commercial real estate, said interest in the environment played a major role in considering options. Cremation burns fossil fuels that can contribute to climate change and, in the process, releases toxic gases, including mercury, into the atmosphere. Traditional burials occupy graveyard space and use additional resources to constantly water and mow plots.
Killeen, who composts food and garden waste through the city’s collection program, said:
Killeen is increasingly considering more natural funeral options, especially since the beginning of the pandemic. He believes that the options will become more acceptable as people overcome the “disease factors.”
The Colorado Catholic Council, a bishop’s group aimed at shaping public policy, opposed the bill, saying that composting the body “does not promote human dignity.” Some rabbis oppose composting the body by saying it violates Jewish religious law. There is not enough research on whether compost pollutes the soil and there is no way to prevent people from using it in their home vegetable fields.
Stacy Kleinman, director of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association, said: They helped draft the legislation, but the group’s stance is neutral.
Even with opposition, some states are considering this option as Americans become more open to afterlife options.
According to a survey of 1,500 Americans this summer, the Choice Mutual Insurance Agency found that when many people were burying their loved ones killed by the coronavirus, 21% changed their body disposal due to a pandemic. Said that. Traditional burials and cremations remained the leading candidates, but 11% said they would choose burials with spontaneous decomposition without a casket. In a similar survey conducted in 2020, only 4% said they would choose that option.
Choice Mutual, a burial insurance specialist, did not specifically ask about composting the body, but the study highlights a growing interest in more natural and environmentally friendly options.
Micah Truman, CEO and founder of Return Home in Southern Seattle, operates an 11,500-square-foot (1,068-square-meter) facility that includes 74 vessels. So far, his company has composted 16 bodies, which he describes as “very accurate scientific manipulation” in just 60 days.
“It’s really a problem to change your mind and mind right now,” Truman said, as the composting options are so new. But he is surprised that many young people are interested, including those who recently enrolled an eight-year-old child.
“Our youth teach us how to die better. It was really powerful for us. What happened is that the younger generation needs to be able to sustain us the whole planet. I think you really really understand that. “
Copyright 2021 AP communication. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
A body that composts “green” things instead of burial and cremation | Nation
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