Death is profound, momentous, and beyond our understanding. With an approach that is as practical as it is meaningful, Recompose connects the end of life to the natural world.
Recompose use the ‘natural organic reduction’ which involves surrounding a human corpse with wood chips, alfalfa, and straw before placing it into an airy, metal chamber. About a month later, the person’s body — even their bones — will have broken down into about one cubic yard of nutrient-rich soil.
They utilizes the principles of nature to return bodies to the land, sequestering carbon and improving the health of the natural surroundings.
The process prevents about one metric ton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, both from avoiding the burning of fossil fuels during cremation and sequestering greenhouse gases in the soil because typical funerary arrangements add about 40 propane tanks of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, all of which is avoided during composting.
The breakdown of organic matter is an essential component in the cycle that allows the death of one organism to nurture the life of another. Soil is the foundation of a healthy ecosystem. It filters water, provides nutrients to plants, sequesters carbon, and helps regulate global temperature.
This natural organic reduction allows a literal return to the earth.
Reference- Recompose website & Newsroom, Futurism, Clean Technica, The Guardian, Popular Science, Los Angeles Magazine
