This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribune’s ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utah’s biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.
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Life after death? Sure, but you may be coming back as a petunia patch.
It’s called “natural organic reduction.” There’s a bill at the Utah Legislature this year to make it legal to compost your loved ones when the time comes.
SB102, sponsored by Sen. Jen Plumb, D-Salt Lake City, defines natural organic reduction as “the contained, accelerated conversion of human remains to soil.”
It’s not just lowering bodies into the ground and letting bacteria do its thing. It’s more like the composting that gardeners do in their backyards. The remains are mixed with bacteria to speed up the decay. After several weeks, survivors are presented with a composted soil amendment that can be used for planting.
“This is an option that really resonates with a lot of people,” said Plumb, who presented the bill Monday to the Senate Business and Labor Committee.
Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Vermont, California and New York allow the option, and Plumb said Arizona is currently considering it.
The senator said Utahns should have the option, too.
“I’m not advocating that it’s the best way to go,” she said. “People have different reasons for how they want to rest, ultimately.”
According to Recompose, a Seattle funeral home offering natural organic reduction, the bodies are first placed in a vessel with wood chips, alfalfa and straw for five to seven weeks.
“Each body creates about one cubic yard of soil amendment, which is removed from the vessel and allowed to cure for three to five weeks. Once completed, it can be used to enrich conservation land, forests or gardens,” Recompose’s website says.
Plumb also sees it as future-focused. “We will eventually have challenges finding space in cemeteries, particularly in cities.”
She also said the process uses far less energy than cremation, which has become the most popular method for handling remains in this country. It’s also less impact on the environment.
“Currently,” she said, “blood and body fluids are put into the sewer system.”
Plumb said the bill isn’t an attempt to circumvent the funeral services industry, and the legislation is written to “leave it in the realm of the professionals. … It’s their industry.”
In Utah, that industry isn’t embracing it.
“The Utah Funeral Directors Association board of directors opposes this bill,” said Tyler Russon, a member of the board and a funeral director in Bountiful.
Russon said there is “not very much demand for this method of disposition,” and he disputed the contention that it is a “green” method.
“In my studies, it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Russon said.
The process, he said, requires heating the remains to 130 degrees for more than a month.
“We do have burials that are green,” Russon said. “We wrap them in a shroud and put them in a wicker basket and bury them.”
The Senate Business and Labor Committee ultimately tabled the bill Monday over legislative concerns about where the compost could end up.
Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, wondered what happens when someone buys a house with “somebody’s grandpa in the backyard.” Would there need to be some kind of disclosure?
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, wondered how disclosure would work. Would it become part of a property deed?
Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, wondered if survivors would still have some right to visit their loved ones on someone else’s property.
Plumb agreed to hit the brakes the bill for now and try to address those questions.
