Re-visiting Recompose

March 7, 2022/Business, Products/

I’ve been an entrepreneur and started new companies so I know the drive and dedication behind one who does so. And, to invent a new industry, which in some cases may include legislative law changes, to start the company in that environment is an even tougher hill to climb. That’s why I’m such a fan of Katrina Spade and her undeniable determination to bring “Natural Organic Reduction” (NOR) – better known by many of us as “Human Composting” – to become a valid disposition choice among consumers.

Personally, I’m guessing that I’ll never be a user of NOR, but that doesn’t mean I’m not for the option it provides to American death care consumers. I’m not a fan of white wine either. . I prefer a full-red cabernet. . .just as I prefer a traditional earth burial disposition. However, NOR and Spade’s new death care company, Recompose, are choices that American consumers now have. . . . .and that is good.

Over the years since I started this blog, I’ve followed the path of Recompose from proof of concept to capital raising to getting legislative authority in their home state of Washington. However, I had not heard much since they have received approval and built their licensed funeral home for the purpose of Natural Organic Reduction. So, I decided to check in.

I checked in by looking at the Recompose web-site which you can access here. One of the things that I always wondered was “Who are the people who wanted to use this method of disposition?” and “Did people just talk about the method or would they actually use the process?” I always thought that those were valid questions — in essence, “Was there really a market for this disposition process?”

Just as your funeral home exhibits obituaries for the deceased you have cared for, I found that the web-site for Recompose did the same. It’s amazing how “Seeing is believing” and seeing those photos and reading those obituaries brought that belief to me that, yes, there are people who want and will use this form of disposition if available. You can see Recompose’ obituary page here.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

I now believe, that just like other new products that come to market, NOR will have “early adopters” who use the process and over time the product or process becomes a normal part of the market. . . . it is the evolution of almost all new products. . . History has shown in the United States it was the way of growth for products as different as cremation to cell phones. And, I believe it will be the way that Natural Organic Reduction and alkaline hydrolysis move forward in the death care profession.

I also noticed from Recompose’ web-site is that their price has increased to $7,000 from what they anticipated would be $5,500. Not only are we in inflationary times, but a new company many times finds it has expenses that it just does not anticipate as it starts up. . . . I’m pretty sure that the additional costs will not stop those early-adapters who will move Recompose into a more “mainstream” market position.

In my opinion, the biggest challenge to the national acceptance of NOR will be legislative bodies of various states not moving real quickly on the legality of the process. To my knowledge, at this time NOR has been approved only in Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. I’m also under the impression that the process is under legislative consideration in New York, Massachusetts, and Delaware. And, California Assembly Bill #501 which called for the legalization of NOR did not move out of the Senate Appropriations Committee this past September (Here’s a note about that).

Here is a couple of related articles on Natural Organic Reduction and where it is in the news: