Gov. Hochul Legalizes Human Composting in NYS as Eco-Friendly Burial Option

By:  Hadassa Kalatizadeh

As an eco-friendly burial option, Governor Kathy Hochul has legalized human composting in New York State.

As reported by the NY Post, on Saturday Hochul signed legislation to allow natural organic reduction of dead bodies, which is also known as “human composting.”  NY is now the sixth state to legalize this environmentally sustainable burial method.  As part of the state’s plan to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050, the bill was co-sponsored by NYS Assembly Member Amy Paulin, a Democrat representing Westchester, and state Senator Leroy Comrie, a Democrat representing Queens.  Earlier this year, the bill passed in both the assembly and the senate, landing on the governor’s desk for further approval.

Natural Organic Reduction is basically defined as “the contained, accelerated conversion of human remains to soil.” To achieve this, a dead body is placed in a specially designed container together with other organic material, and stored in a specially designed facility for about a month.   The body will decompose into about a cubic yard (or about 36 bags) of organic material which could then be used as soil to nourish the earth.  The 60-day, chemical-free compost-mortem process approved in NY involves putting a person’s remains in a “vessel” with organic material such as straw, alfalfa or sawdust, and sealing and attaching the box to an HVAC system. After 30-days, the box is opened and inspected for inorganic material and the remaining bone is broken up and put back in for further decomposing. After the second set of 30 days, the contents are returned to the family, as per the Post.

In 2019, Washington became the first state to make human composting legal, and it was followed by Colorado and Oregon in 2021, and then in 2022 by California and Vermont.  Washington state eco-friendly funeral service Return Home, which offers “human composting as a death care option,” says it has already received “tons of inquiries” from New Yorkers.  “Return Home is incredibly excited about New York’s recent human composting legalization. This is a huge step for accessible green death care nationwide,” Return Home CEO Micah Truman told The Post on Saturday.  Proponents say human composting is an attractive burial alternative, particularly where there is lack of land for burials.

Of course, the burial method has its critics.  Orthodox Jewish law is against composting of human bodies, and it presents specific difficulties for Kohanim.  Other religious organizations have spoken out against the bill.  “Composting and fertilizing may be appropriate for vegetable clippings or eggshells, but not for our mortal remains,” said Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the state’s Catholic bishops in Albany.  Poust wrote a letter to Hochul late last year against the new burial method. “It is inappropriate to suddenly introduce a completely different method, with no input from the public, religious communities, or anyone else outside of the state Capitol,” he wrote.