Controversial step in the US: corpses can become compost

The US state of New York has approved that human corpses can be composted.

According to the news of the British public channel BBC, it will be possible for those who want to turn their bodies into the ground after dying in New York. This method is considered more environmentally friendly than burial and cremation in caskets.

In 2019, Washington became the first US state to allow the practice.

Fertilization is done by keeping the carcasses in a container with wood chips, clover, and grass for about a month. It is the activities of microbes that turn corpses into compost.

After the corpses are composted, they are heated to avoid any contamination and the resulting soil is given to the relatives of the dead. The US company Recompose reports that this service releases around 1 ton less carbon than burial or cremation.

Supporters of fertilizers argue that there is a shortage of cemeteries in many cities and that this method will also be a solution to this problem.

On the other hand, there are those who think that this land creates an ethical problem. The Catholic bishops of New York are reportedly against it and that it is not correct to consider human corpses as “household waste”.

There are also those who consider that the cost of this process is about 7 thousand dollars too much.

The company Recompose, which implemented the app, says this is not a high service, considering that the average burial fee is 7,848 and the cremation fee is 6,971 in 2021.