
Don't bury or cremate – soon you may compost your corpse - pseudolus
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/august-17-2019-the-benefits-of-video-games-composting-corpses-brewing-ancient-beer-and-more-1.5155492/don-t-bury-or-cremate-soon-you-may-compost-your-corpse-1.5155504
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m-p-3
There is a place like that near where I live in Canada, your remains gets
transformed into a fertilizer and a small tree is planted right above it.

I already specified it in my will to go for such a solution or in the same
vein, as long as it remain as eco-friendly as possible.

I really like the idea of having a tree with my name on it, instead of a
tombstone.

~~~
ceejayoz
Even better if it's a fruit tree.

~~~
todd3834
Lol I would not eat the fruit from a tree with a known dead body feeding it.
Even if the science claims it’s okay it just seems weird.

~~~
ceejayoz
The atoms in the food you eat, the air your breathe, and the water you drink
have been part of trillions of dead bodies.

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hmottestad
There was a great article on nrk.no about how people are still not decomposed
in their graves after 70 years: [https://www.nrk.no/viten/xl/plassmangel-og-
blaleire-gir-stor...](https://www.nrk.no/viten/xl/plassmangel-og-blaleire-gir-
store-utfordringer-pa-norske-kirkegarder-1.14563866)

One example is clay. Burying in clay rich ground will slow decay because it
limits the flow of air.

Another example is from the late 1950s where people would be buried in plastic
wrap, to make the burial process more sanitary. They did this for 15-20 years.
None of those bodies have decomposed much, but worse is that all the liquids
are trapped inside the plastic :|

~~~
magashna
Pop a straw in and you have the most macabre capri-sun

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whatshisface
People are long-lived apex predators, wouldn't this have a heavy metal
problem? Tuna and other apex predators tend to be dangerous to eat due to the
buildup of pollutants inside them, and they don't live nearly as long or eat
nearly as much as a human.

~~~
nokcha
And a potential prion problem as well. Plants grown in prion-contaminated soil
can absorb prions, and animals who subsequently eat the plants can become
infected. [1] And while composting might be enough to destroy most infectious
diseases, it certainly isn't enough to denature prions.

[1] Sandra Pritzkow et al. "Grass plants bind, retain, uptake, and transport
infectious prions." _Cell Reports_ (2015).
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4449294/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4449294/)

~~~
PopeDotNinja
I sincerely hope I can't get mad cow disease from eating a banana.

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ggm
The introduction of cremation and the establishment of the first necropolis'
in Paris (I think) and London was a huge social advance. Being able to talk
openly and frankly about modes of interment, the recognition of a growing
class of atheists, deists but not christians, a migrant population created
many new states. London had a special railway line to the cemetary, and you
got black-lined ticket to ride the coffin-train-hearse.

At times (from 1660s), to ensure the survival of the wool industry and raise
taxes for the state, the shroud was a defined quantity of wool cloth, of a
stated quality, which had to be sufficient to wrap the corpse like a Christmas
cracker, tied head and toe. I like to imagine it was much like a farmer
growing grapes destined for the wine-lake: you shear sheep, to make cloth, to
wrap corpses, to earn taxes for the national economy.

I don't see why we can't get to the same kind of open-minded "why not" with
composting. We've already had woven coffins, and the ending of routine
embalming in many cultures. The liquid biological digester I find slightly
more mechanistically worrying. Nobody talks about what you do with the fluids
afterward (I think its using Lye or some other caustic solvent to dispose, and
its not aiming to fertilize trees the way composting is)

~~~
NeedMoreTea
Thankfully there's a good choice of natural and forest burials in the UK now.
Surprisingly it can be the cheaper option. Actual composting is but a small
step from there...

Burial at sea used to be another natural option. A body sewed into sail
canvas, weighted with rocks (or cannon balls), which continued beyond WW2. Now
it's a whole damn full size coffin, and regulations for the minimum amount of
weight bolted to it - steel or concrete!

[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/burial-at-sea-
fur...](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/burial-at-sea-further-
information/burial-at-sea-coffin-requirements)

~~~
thinkingkong
The body being sewn into canvas for the burial at sea was related to the
people having canvas hammocks. You were buried in your hammock after they
sewed it up - the last stitch went through your nose.

~~~
NeedMoreTea
Aye, but they stuck with canvas long after ships switched to bunks not
hammocks, and on the ocean liners etc.

Happily there are better ways to be sure of death than the last stitch of
Nelson's day. :)

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ryanmercer
In some places you can go for a 'natural' burial where you are minimally
processed and simply placed in the ground in basically a natural material
burial shroud.

In a lot of places, however, this is highly illegal and there are minimum
requirements for burial (which can include embalming and/or a casket and/or a
concrete and/or a burial vault which is basically a concrete sarcophagus that
caskets go in).

Here in Indiana the only requirement is you have to be placed in a designated
cemetery or graveyard 'within a reasonable time' however, pretty much every
cemetery here requires a casket and a burial vault.

I used to bury people for a living and always found it so dumb, I'd have to
excavate the grave, get chains under a vault and lift it with the backhoe,
very slowly drive it out to the grave to prevent it swinging and cracking,
lower it into the hole, go put the backhoe up, come back and jump down int he
grave with a dust pan and get any dirt that fell into the vault and climb back
out without knocking more in, cover it with a tarp and a piece of plywood then
do prep an hour or so before the body was to arrive to have it ready for the
graveside service.

Then... people would throw handfuls of dirt into the vault _eyetwitch_ and
after they left I'd remove all the fake grass and stuff, go get the small
tractor, wrestle the vault lid into the front loader bucket, slowly drive out
to the grave, wrestle it out of the bucket and get some straps on it, lift hte
straps with the bucket and lower it down, let slack out slowly on one end to
lower one side of the lid on, remove the straps, lower it more and then play
'don't crush my fingers' while I'm laying next to the grave trying to get the
straps out without slamming the lid down and breaking it.

THEN I could put the dirt back and get back to cutting several acres of grass
and walking around with a backpack full of diesel to weed eat while trying not
to get sun poisoning again.

Man, do not miss that job.

~~~
Mvhsz
Laws requiring embalming/caskets are pretty uncommon. There aren't any laws at
the US Federal level, and only a handful of states have any restrictions.
Finding a funeral director to provide a natural burial can be more difficult,
although most large cities have at least one option.

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coinerone
Not naming the Recompose "Product" 'Soil-End Green' is a missed opportunity.

~~~
guggle
beat me to it...

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mensetmanusman
For those interested in the thermodynamics, composting generates heat and
methane/CO2 emissions. If the composting object (body, trash, etc.)
sufficiently disrupts the soil nutrient level (metal content, etc.), it
becomes less suitable for healthy plant growth.

There is a growing debate as to whether it is better to incinerate (cremate)
for energy generation/offsetting, because the output can be more effectively
filtered/separated. (One must of course plant organic matter to offset CO2
output).

This is why many European countries incinerate their waste to reduce risk of
disrupting the land.

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m23khan
I thought Muslims perform their burials in style of compost.

In Pakistan,

The dead body is wrapped in cloth shroud and the grave is dug six feet and is
lined with concrete blocks (ground is bare Earth). Coffin is not used. The
body is laid in the grave then if I remember correctly, grave is covered
partially (25% - 33%?) with soil and then thick concrete/stone slabs are
placed on top to cover the grave. After that, the grave is covered with mound
of Earth.

~~~
dusted
concrete is super terrible for the environment compared to wood.

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L_226
I personally want to be interred in a mushroom infused burial suit [0]. The
idea of going back to the progenitor fungal network really comforts me
actually.

[0] - [https://coeio.com/coeio-story/](https://coeio.com/coeio-story/)

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apo
Given the dwindling space for burials:

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/bisnow/2017/11/03/urban-
cemeter...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bisnow/2017/11/03/urban-cemeteries-
running-out-of-space-as-baby-boomers-enter-twilight-years/)

and the energy/greenhouse gas emission costs of cremation, I can see this
taking off.

There's a picture and caption not discussed in the text:

> Katrina Spade, upper left, the founder and CEO of Recompose, a company that
> hopes to use composting as an alternative to burying or cremating human
> remains, looks on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee,
> centre, signs a bill into law at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., that allows
> licensed facilities to offer "natural organic reduction," which turns a body
> into soil in a span of several weeks. (Ted S. Warren/AP Photo)

Was Spade involved in bringing that legislation about?

~~~
whatshisface
The dwindling space for burials... In the middle of urban areas.

~~~
bregma
Not just urban areas. The swamp where I live is getting pretty full. It's
getting harder harder to find a place to bury bodies.

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sprocketonline
Or be eaten:
[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7383903/How-...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7383903/How-
cannibalism-taboo-sets-humans-apart-rest-animal-kingdom.html) [warning: Daily
Mail]

------
logfromblammo
My will specifies above-ground consumption by insects, followed by a clear
urethane casting resin ossuary.

It also specifies cats-eye cubic zirconium retroreflectors in the eye sockets
of the skull. It gives me a little thrill to imagine being discovered in a
storage unit 200 years from now and creeping someone out because they saw the
eyes glow from their flashlight.

Having a little trouble finding 25 mm diameter spheres of cubic zirconium,
though, so I can't die yet. I can get a big chunk of it and maybe cut that
down in a lathe, but I'd almost rather buy 5mm beads and make an array.

------
mcv
I would love to know how this process compares to simple burial in a wicker
basket or something like that. I always assumed that decomposition in soil,
without any embalming chemicals or hardwood coffin, would be about as natural
as decomposition would get.

I guess the compost from this process would be of higher quality, but compared
to burying your loved one in a machine where they have to decompose for a few
weeks, I think returning them straight to the earth would feel better for the
relatives.

~~~
antsoul
Decomposition would be best in the open, not buried in the soil. You need
oxygen for all kind of life to eat your corpse.

Sky Burial would be my favorite way to go.

~~~
yazaddaruvala
I come from a culture where this is the norm. In fact they encourage vultures
to eat the dead during the sky burial.

I've always liked the idea. Living in the Pacific North West, I would love to
be taken to the top of a mountain and left at the top.

That said, I understand that this nice idea is not appropriate, because at
scale it would ruin the mountains for the living :P

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gnur
Reminds me of Record of a spaceborn few, a book by Becky Chambers.

It goes into detail how on a generation ship the bodies are composted and
become nutrients to grew new food upon.

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aatharuv
In David Weber's Honor Harrington series, the original settlers of one of the
planets (Grayson) found the soil was too polluted with heavy metals that they
needed to create purified soil of their own for growing food. So amongst other
things they buried people in their gardens, though by the time of the stories,
they had transitioned away from being food gardens.

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asdfman123
Personally, I'm an organ donor and donating my body to science. I don't care
what happens to it when I'm gone.

~~~
481092
What do they do with it once "used"? I know, search it, but it's a morbid
topic I'd rather read no more about than possible.

~~~
codingdave
The family / next of kin gets the body back after it has been used, normally
cremated.

~~~
ChrisRR
I've filled out the forms for myself lately and it depends what you choose.
You can choose for the body to be kept indefinitely if you want or returned to
the family after a period, in the UK at least.

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summm
This has been done over centuries, and is still standard in Europe, where the
embalming fad never has caught on.

~~~
tremon
Natural burial is completely different to composting. Have you read the
article?

 _When someone dies, their body is taken to a human composting facility [..]
After wrapping the deceased in a simple shroud, friends and family carry the
body to the top of the core which contains the natural decomposition system
[..] It would be done in a contained vessel which [..] would be rotated to
provide physical disruption so oxygen could access all parts of the composting
material. This would also help control the moisture level._

 _By the time we completed our trials, we were developing material that was
very pleasant to handle, it was a very fine compost that was relatively
stable, [and] it smelled good_

Where in Europe is this standard practice, exactly?

~~~
josefx
Active composting isn't. However most graves seem to already be efficient
enough at it that you can bury a new corpse in one every few years without
being blocked by the remains of the previous inhabitant.

~~~
magashna
Other posts in this thread mention issues with the soil composition, like if
it has a high amount of clay, bodies are well preserved. Really may depend on
where specifically you're burying the bodies.

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chkaloon
Soon? Looks like someone's ahead of the curve:

[http://www.hngnews.com/lodi_enterprise/article_37e5f4bf-f699...](http://www.hngnews.com/lodi_enterprise/article_37e5f4bf-f699-59c5-bd2e-71ca056e4bbc.html)

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algaeontoast
I completely agree with this method - I’ve just opted to be put in a faux
coffin filled with my body and 100lbs of explosives. That should take care of
“scattering my remains”.

Seems like a definite “slam bang” finish to whatever my life amounts to.

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Nelkins
I wonder if is the beginning of an industry where you can sign your body away
to be used as fertilizer, with the proceeds going to your estate.

Opens up some grim possibilities though.

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faitswulff
I wonder if this has happened in the past, we just don't have archaeological
records of it because the bodies have been composted?

~~~
perlgeek
Of course it has. There are many cultures where it was normal to simply dig a
hole in the earth and put the body in there, either directly, or wrapped in
cloths or in a wooden casket.

The composting happens slower that way, but it still does.

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tr33house
While composting has a lot of benefits, I would be very sad to attend a
friend's burial if they were to be composted. Feels like a disrespectful way
to let someone go.

I'm also concerned about disease transmission. Cows' diseases may not
necessarily affect us but humans' certainly will. The need to disinfect kinda
defeats the purpose (pollution with chemicals)

Hope about we just compost other things and let human bodies be

~~~
spinach
I don't think it's particularly disrespectful, isn't all that's needed a
change of perspective? What makes it disrespectful, precisely?

The common method of embalming in North America seems more disrespectful -
pumping a body full of chemicals that weren't there in the first place and
helping to pollute the earth.

~~~
mcv
Composting seems like a mixture between cremation and natural burial. At the
funeral ceremony, the deceased disappears into a machine, as with cremation,
but eventually the body will feed the soil, like with natural burial.

I think it's mostly a slower, cleaner version of cremation, though.

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pgnas
Actually quite interesting and one of the most sensible things I have heard in
a long time, you know , our maker had sustainability in mind when creating us,
we are the ones who chose otherwise.

Cool idea

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zer0faith
I can't help but think of the movie How High.

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tathougies
You mean, bury. If you bury a corpse, without embalming it and doing funny
things to it, it rots like everything else.

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bherrmann7
I thought we are all worm food

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adultSwim
finally

