As an organic farmer who works in ecological restoration, James Loomis is “very familiar” with the science and benefits of composting. But as a father, he was unprepared for his professional knowledge to inform a personal tragedy last year.
Loomis lost his 16-year-old daughter suddenly and unexpectedly in November 2024, he told the Senate Business and Labor Committee earlier this month. The question of what to do with her remains was an easy one to answer — his whole family wants to undergo “natural organic reduction,” which composts human remains into soil.
But the practice is not allowed in Utah; so while the answer was easy, the process has been complicated and expensive and required sending his daughter’s remains to Seattle, Loomis said.
“I was faced with additional expense and complication on top of an already difficult situation,” Loomis said. “Now I don’t have her close to me; she’s in another state.”
A bill introduced by Sen. Jen Plumb — a physician — again this session would allow funeral service providers in Utah to offer natural organic reduction. The practice is currently allowed in a dozen states, including Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. But for several years in a row, Utah lawmakers seem reluctant to dig too deep into the business of regulating human remains.
“I’m conflicted,” Calvin Musselman, R-West Haven, said during the Feb. 4 committee meeting. “This is a new, innovative business idea, and I’m always up for that. But this does push against maybe a cultural norm. And that’s difficult to deal with.”
Legalizing natural organic reduction in Utah would give funeral service providers more options to offer grieving families, Shanyen Starks told lawmakers. Starks said she now presents natural reduction as an option to every family who comes to her, even if it means sending them out of state and losing their business.
So far, four families — including Loomis — have done exactly that, she said.
Advocates for human composting also say the practice is a more environmentally friendly alternative to burial or cremation. It uses less energy than cremation, Plumb said, and emits less carbon dioxide. Burials, meanwhile, require embalming bodies and land in which to bury them, in caskets that also don’t decompose. And cremations emit millions of tons of carbon dioxide every year.
“That matters a lot to the folks considering this,” Plumb said.
Opponents of the proposed rule largely argued against the unknown risks of soil made from human remains. Andrew Anderson, president of the Utah Funeral Directors Association, said lawmakers should consider the “lasting effects” of mixing Utah soil with soil that is potentially contaminated with bacteria.
There are currently no rules prohibiting families from sending their loved ones’ remains out of state to decompose, and then bringing that soil back to Utah. Regulation addressing human composting should address that, too, Anderson suggested.
Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, agreed, and Plumb said she would be willing to consider adding such a provision to her bill.
While that wasn’t enough to move the bill to the Senate floor, the legislation isn’t ready for composting yet.
When it was clear Plumb did not have the votes to get it out of committee, lawmakers opted instead to move to the next agenda item rather than bring the bill to a vote. Committee members could consider it again later this session.
“I think this is mostly about being uncomfortable culturally with change,” Musselman said. “I think there probably are lanes that we could regulate to make this work. I don’t know if I’m not quite comfortable with it yet, but I’m interested.”
“That’s been my journey for the last couple of years,” Plumb responded. “I think death and the loss of those that we love … what I have ultimately come down on is that it’s such a precious thing for people, how they want their final rest to be. And to be able to regulate it from our state, make the rules from our state, as well as to bring in this business opportunity, and to do it responsibly and thoughtfully, to me it feels like the right thing to do.”
Shannon Sollitt is a Report for America corps member covering business accountability and sustainability for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.
