A glimpse into the world of Natural Organic Reduction at Recompose

February 20, 2024/Products/

Today, I’m going to spare you my writing and editorial viewpoints and just bring you a 6-minute news video put out by Cascade Public Broadcasting. It’s an excellent story on the growing trend of Natural Organic Reduction or NOR.

I’m very familiar with Katrina Spade and her venture into the world of NOR. I’ve had the opportunity to sit and visit with Katrina and am asoutnded by what she has already accomplished in turning NOR into a viable choice for human final disposition. She not only invented a business category, but because of the public health issues involved, had to take that category, prove its viability, and then get it legalized. . .

Here’s what Crosscut from Cascade Public Broadcasting said in its intro to the news capsule video . . . (which I highly recommend you watch). . okay, so I did give a little “editorial viewpoint” there!!!

“Katrina Spade turns people into soil. At Recompose, a Washington funeral home, Spade offers an alternative to traditional burial and cremation — human composting. Recompose uses wood chips, alfalfa and straw to break down the body into a material much like typical garden soil.

The process takes 1/8 the energy output of conventional burial or cremation, and saves one metric ton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Spade hopes that this can have a small but meaningful impact on the environment — the death of one organism nurturing the life of another.”

. . .and, here’s the video promised – it’s titled, “The Washington funeral home that can turn you into a tree“:

Crosscut — Cascade Public Broadcasting Video/Story

Here’s the website for Recompose.

Related — Here’s a podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio titled, “Outside/In: Casket, cremation, or human composting?”

More news from the world of Death Care: