US compost facility to open in 2021

Non-profit organization Recompose and American architect Olson Kundig Architects have announced that they will open a new compost facility in 2021.

The burial of the deceased has the problem of requiring vast amounts of land and cost. Even with makeup, a large amount of fuel is consumed, and contaminants contained in the body affect the environment or the human body. For this reason, Recompose is a compost site that solves burial and cremation problems and is an inexpensive and eco-friendly funeral method. Washington DC passed a law in May 2019 that allowed the body to be treated in two processes: organic reduction and hydrolysis, and in May 2020, compost farms became legal in Washington DC.

When composting, the body is stored in a reusable modular container rather than a tube. The container is filled with pieces of wood, and the body breaks down microorganisms over 30 days to turn into compost. All personal bodies, including teeth and bones, become dirt, but those that inorganics and microorganisms such as pacemakers and metal implants cannot decompose are removed during the organic treatment process. In addition, since pathogens such as harmful microorganisms are also decomposed, it is possible for people who died in the compost, but those who died of highly contagious diseases like Ebola or those who died of diseases whose causative substances were not degraded by microorganisms are excluded.

According to pose rikeom compost to get the toebijang one person is 0.76m ^3. The idea of using corpses as fertilizer has been in the form of an arboretum, but unlike an arboretum where trees are planted next to buried corpses, the bodies are fertilized in the compost, so they can be taken by the bereaved or donated to greening organizations.

The cost is estimated at $5,500 per person. In Washington State, the cost of a standard arboretum is 6,000 dollars, cremation costs 1,000-7,000 dollars, and stores are 8,000 dollars. In addition, the energy required for the entire process is one-eighth than cremation, and since there is no soil and groundwater pollution unlike burials, the impact on the environment is minimized compared to conventional funeral methods.

The first compost facility, Recompose Seattle, will be built in the South of Downtown (SODO) area near Seattle and will open in the spring of 2021. It is said that bodies outside of Washington State are also accommodated, and bodies outside the United States can also be accommodated if they can be brought in. Related information can be found here .