The new funeral practice, which allows families to spread their loved one's remains in gardens, yards and house plants, is already legal in seven states.
Imagine a funeral where your loved one is placed on a bed of wood chips and straw inside a steel cylinder vessel.
If approved, New Jersey would join seven other states — California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — that have legalized human composting since 2019. Salamanca, 55, began thinking more about her mortality when her ex-husband, with whom she remained close, died in 2020. While exploring grief resources online, she came across a video that discussed human composting and the idea immediately resonated., a green funeral home in Seattle known as one of the pioneers in human composting.
After five to seven weeks, the soil is removed from the container, screened for non-organic items like hip replacements or stents, and then set aside to cure for an additional three to five weeks. The entire process usually takes about two to three months. “I’m not really religious, but I do feel that there’s a connection that we all have to the Earth we live on. And so I’d be doing a little less harm and a little more good,” Salamanca said.
The Recompose composting vessel is a steel cylinder, 8 feet long and 4 feet tall. Each body is placed into the vessel on a bed of wood chips, alfalfa, and straw. While aquamation is not legal in New Jersey, it is permitted in more than 20 other states, according to the Cremation Association of North America.
While both methods promote decomposition, human composting and natural burial are different practices. Human composting breaks down the body in a closed, reusable vessel, specially filled with carbon-rich materials like wood chips, sawdust, or shredded paper. In order to aid the decomposition process, the vessel must be heated to optimal temperatures and the container must be monitored for a balance of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen over a period of several months.
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