Human Composting Sites May Be Coming to a City Near You
A large human composting facility has opened in Elkridge, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., according to Axios. Earth Funeral reports the site covers about 36,000 square feet and can process bodies in 56 composting vessels, wiht plans from CEO Tom Harries to expand and double capacity as the company grows nationwide.
The article explains how human composting (also called “soil transportation”) works: bodies are placed in a vessel with organic materials to balance nitrogen and carbon and break down remains naturally. Earth Funeral says the process typically takes around 45 days, costs under $6,000 on average, and families can keep or donate the resulting soil (about 300 pounds).
It also notes that human composting is legal in 14 U.S. states, while Oklahoma came close but a bill to legalize it was vetoed by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. The piece includes criticism from Oklahoma State Rep. Jim Shaw, who argues the practice is disrespectful and shouldn’t treat people as products, while Earth Funeral responds that participation is meant to be a matter of consumer choice rather than a requirement.
One of the world’s largest human composting facilities just opened near the nation’s capital, according to Axios.
Earth Funeral recently opened an approximately 36,000 square foot human composting site in Elkridge, Maryland, Axios reported Monday. It has a capacity for 56 “composting vessels.”
CEO Tom Harries told Axios he plans to double that capacity and continue the company’s nationwide expansion.
Earth Funeral announced the facility’s opening in a post on May 5.
Human composting is legal in 14 states, according to Earth Funeral’s state tracker, and Oklahoma nearly joined them this year.
However, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed a bill aimed at legalizing it within the state, News 9 reported May 13.
Human composting is also known as “soil transportation,” which is “a sustainable alternative to cremation, traditional burial and aquamation,” according to Earth Funeral’s website.
This is done by placing a body “in a vessel with a mix of organic materials to provide the right balance of nitrogen and carbon” to break down the remains naturally.
Republican State Rep. Jim Shaw spearheaded that bill’s opposition, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported. When asked for comment on the new Maryland facility, he told the DCNF in an Wednesday that “this site and the overall practice of turning dead bodies into human compost should be shocking and surprising to everyone.”
One retired Air Force Colonel reportedly told Axios that he discovered Earth Funeral when planning his estate and plans to lobby the Arlington National Cemetery to permit composted remains.
Shaw told the DCNF he “can’t think of anything worse to dishonor the former or fallen military service members who served and possibly gave their lives for our country,” regarding that comment.
“If we start blurring the lines between dignity and utility, you do it first in death, then eventually you start doing it in life. Every regime that has treated human beings as raw material whether it was for labor, or experimentation or disposal, began that same quiet shift into darkness. A person becomes secondary, the system becomes primary,” Shaw said, quoting Glenn Beck’s coverage of the recently vetoed bill.
“Ultimately, the way we treat our dead says a lot about what we believe as a society. We need to be very concerned about viewing people as, and turning them into, products,” Shaw said.
“Most people intrinsically know that human beings are not waste, we are not raw material to be repurposed in death or in life. We were created by God,” Shaw told the DCNF.
Earth Funeral’s service takes around 45 days and costs on average less than $6,000, according to Axios. Families are also allowed to keep or donate the roughly 300-pounds of soil afterwards.
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