I started publishing Funeral Director Daily about the same time that entrepreneur Katrina Spade was involved in a pilot research project with Washington State University on the possibility and merits of composting human remains.  During that time I can remember telling some of my friends about this project and the eventual legalization of the process called Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) in the state of Washington in 2019 with human composting scheduled for a 2020 statewide legalization and implementation in the state.

 

Most of my friends thought it was an interesting concept. . . .but one that would not have much practical application.

 

Well, here we are today.  According to a recent article in the Puget Sound Business Journal (of which I am not linking because there is a paywall to access it) entrepreneur Spade launched her commercial company, Recompose, in 2019 and began accepting clients in December 2020.

 

While there have been some setbacks for the process of human composting, such as the states of Illinois and New Hampshire failing to legalize the process in the past year’s legislative sessions, Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) is legal by my count in 14 states.  And, Katrina Spade now operates the Recompose Green Funeral Home, whose website you can access here, in Seattle  —  a funeral home voted “Best Funeral Home in the Pacific Northwest” for three years straight — 2023, 2024, and 2025.

 

Since the legalization in the state of Washington in 2020 and March of 2026 Spade says that Recompose has had a steady line of about 700 decedents use her facilities.  The Puget Sound Business Journal article states that “Most people read about the company online and sign up for the service early — nearly half of the people who use Recompose come from out of state”.

 

As to the seemingly growing popularity of the NOR process and Recompose in particular, Spade made these comments in the recent article, “I used to think our clients would be all Prius-driving envionmentalists.  And we certainly compost plenty of Prius-driving environmentalists.  But at the same time, there’s a much wider swath of folks who are interested in this deathcare process.  . . . For some people it is (about being environmentalists) but for lots of people it’s more about the active, positive idea of returning to the Earth.”

 

Spade has led the company through not only the research and proof of concept stages but through the capital raise process as well.  The Puget Sound Business Journal article states that Recompose has had six funding rounds raising a total of $22.5 million.  Recompose’ success has also led to the founding of at least two NOR competitors who seemingly have fast-track expansion on their minds.

 

Recompose, under Spade’s leadership, also has growth on its mind — with a well-planned and strategic component to it.  In the recent article Spade mentions a regional expansion to California which has a law that puts human composting into effect in 2027.  California is the state that sends the most out-of-state decedents to Recompose’ Washington state facility at this time.

 

Spade also mentions Florida as a logical expansion site as it is a state in the U.S.A. that has one of the highest median ages.

 

Here is the Recompose website

 

Funeral Director Daily take:  I think Katrina Spade is a talented scientist, an entrepreneuer, a business executive, a very good amateur  lobbyist, and a strategist all rolled into one.  She took an idea, proved the concept, legalized the concept, raised capital and built a going-concern business, not on her own, but as the leader of teams in all of those phases.

 

She has been on an incredible journey and it is one that is not done yet.  I’ve told Katrina that when the year 2100 rolls around and historians look back on what might be the most instrumental discoveries or changes in the past century  . . . . .human composting of deceased human bodies may be in that grouping.

 

Even while NOR is still in its infancy I’ve been surprised at the positive comments I get about the process from the public.  And, I’ve been surprised by many in the current Death Care profession who tell me that they are surprised by the number of people who inquire about it in general discussions of funeral planning.  Those discussions tell me that the subject is “trending” upward in consumer eyes.

 

My guess is that a planned expansion roll-out for Recompose will come and it will be very successful.

 

More news from thew world of Death Care:

• Land allotted on Anchorage hillside for natural burial cemetery.  Alaska Business (AK)
• Advocates:  Life insurers potentially missing millions of deaths annually.  Insurance Newsnet
• “My mum was mislead by online cremation company”.  BBC (Great Britain)
• ‘Re-engineering’ U.S. death data collection:  The technology and labour behind electronic death registration.  Cambridge University Press  (Great Britain)

 

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,482 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily

 

“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”