Become dust or rest in a coffin: in the West, there are only two possible paths after death.
California has just offered a third: becoming compost.
After Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Vermont, it is the fifth state in the United States to legalize an environmentally friendly process, since it consists of naturally reducing human remains to soil.
Human composting is considered a greener alternative to traditional burial methods: cremation, which accounts for more than half of funeral practices in France, is an energy-intensive process that releases chemicals such as CO² into the air , recalls The Guardian.
And the greenhouse gas emissions from making and transporting a standard coffin and headstone are those of a car traveling more than 4,000 km, according to a study by the city's funeral services. from Paris in 2017.
Read alsoTransforming the human body into compost, an alternative to traditional funerals
Through human composting, or “natural organic reduction,” the body is naturally broken down into soil.
The principle is the same as conventional composting: the deceased is placed in a stainless steel or wooden box, with biodegradable materials such as wood chips, straw and flowers.
After one to three months, the body becomes nutrient-rich soil and can then be returned to loved ones.
In the meantime, the large bones have been crushed and the teeth removed, to avoid the risk of mercury poisoning.
Bring the earth home
The demand is such that people sometimes come from afar to compost their loved ones in states that allow it, told the British newspaper Micah Truman, founder of Return Home, funeral directors specializing in human composting based in the Seattle area.
Once the body is fully composted, family members can choose to take the soil home or leave the task to the funeral home.
The Catholic Conference of California opposed the California bill, denouncing an "unfortunate spiritual, emotional and psychological distancing from the deceased".
As a precaution, some states, such as Colorado, prohibit the sale of composted remains or their use in the cultivation of food for human consumption, specifies The Independent.
A "long goodbye"
If the method seems revolutionary, it is nevertheless similar to many traditional funeral rites.
In Jewish culture, a corpse should be returned to the ground as soon as possible.
Embalming is prohibited and the body is buried in an all-wooden coffin, with holes drilled in the bottom to speed up the process of decomposition.
Among Tibetan Buddhists, “heavenly burials” are practiced: the body is placed at the top of a mountain to decompose or be eaten by animals.
David Heckel, who helps families prepare for funerals at the Natural Funeral in Colorado, observes that this choice is above all motivated by ecological concerns.
"Most people who come to us do so because being environmentally friendly is important to them," he told USA Today.
“It's a way of giving back to the Earth.
The manager compares this process, which can take several months, to a “long goodbye”.
