Few things exist in this world about which we are absolutely certain: one of them is death. We are all called to die. It is the law of life. About what there is not such a clear conviction is what will happen to each one after his death. In addition to social and religious rituals, questions such as what impact they will have on nature are now added.
In the search to reduce the environmental footprint of life, we are now also thinking about the one that generates death. In the United States, several companies have already begun to offer a human composting process. Recompose is one of them and uses a process called “organic natural reduction” to convert human remains into a material similar to the soil itself and which, they promise on their website, can be used to regenerate the earth.
The process is not only a way to reintegrate the human being into the cycle of life, as recalled by Return Home, another American company that offers a compost service, but it also reduces the footprint generated by burial. According to Recompose’s calculations, each person who opts for composting instead of traditional cremation or burial saves a ton of carbon dioxide in emissions and consumes one eighth of the energy that would have been expended in those processes. Of course, human composting does not mean throwing anyone into a compost bin: these companies have designed technologies and procedures to do it respectfully and safely.
What has happened during the pandemic – with a tragic peak in mortality – has increased interest in the procedure, as explained by that industry to The Guardian. There are even those who express their wishes to cross the interstate borders in the US after their death in order to be composted where it is already legal. It is, they calculate, the next great innovation in care after death, an industry that, in that country, is already creating a network of emerging companies that seek to disrupt the traditional model. Composting is not the only proposal: there are also those who work, for example, to become, in death, trees.
The idea of human composting would not be possible – as things are right now – in Europe. “There are a series of regulations that establish a series of protocols,” summarizes Luis Nouel, general director of Limbo Europe, a funeral products company, on the other end of the phone. In the United States it was not feasible until not long ago either. They only got it after doing political ‘lobbying’ and, even so, only in six states.
However, the fact that human composting is not possible in Spain does not mean that a green funeral cannot be held. Nothing is further from reality. The industry itself is very aware of the importance of reducing the impact of its activity —in a recent professional congress, they explain, sustainability was one of the leading issues— and many alternatives that are much more respectful of the environment are already offered. “You can offer a service that covers most of the elements [con alternativas verdes]», assures Víctor Humanes, from the coffins —changing the treatment of the wood to eliminate the varnishes, for example— to the impact that the cremation processes have. To add a sample, in Limbo Europe they already sell an organic bag to comply with the regulations on transfers and repatriations and avoid zinc.
There are also less impact options in other areas. “We have developed a crown of living plants,” says Nouel. With it, the use of cut flowers —very polluting and with a limited useful life— is avoided, and a positive memory is added for the loved ones of the deceased. When the ceremony is over, the plants become one more emotional element for family and friends, because they can take them home. “It works really well,” she says.
«The ashes in themselves are not a vegetable substrate from which a tree can grow»
Louis Nouel
Managing Director of Limbo Europe
Even merging with nature after death is more or less feasible. It is not possible to bury yourself directly on the ground, but you can opt for other routes that involve an intermediate step. “Once you give a loved one’s ashes to their family, they can do whatever they want with them,” Nouel says. And if the companies in the sector that organize recreation must use limited areas, for people things are somewhat different —basically, because the situation is rather “allegal”— and nothing prevents them from burying them and letting a tree grow next to them. . Because they exist, there are already cemeteries that offer the possibility of doing it already in that environment and thus turning the loved one into part of a forest. They are not common in Spain, but there are some, Humanes points out, yes, private.
On the market there are already funerary urns that are “biodegradable products”, such as those made of salt, to be thrown into the sea and that melt with the ocean waters “in 5 minutes”, as Nouel explains; or some of earth or made with crushed olive stones, which are thus substrate for the forest. “The ashes themselves are not a plant substrate from which a tree can grow,” says the manager, “but they can help.” There are also urns made of bioplastics — “they look like plastic, but they are not,” says Humanes — and materials such as sand, which integrate with the riverbeds.
A change of mind
“The funeral service, in general, changes a lot depending on custom,” explains Humanes. That is, the rituals of death are closely connected with their own traditions and cultures. They themselves see it, for example, in the differences between what is usual when managing the funeral of foreign clients: families that come from northern Europe prefer processes that take much longer than Spanish families.
And this, which is a curiosity, can also help to understand how the question of green changes: it would have to be integrated into the traditions and rituals that seem habitual and close to us. Likewise, it should be remembered, as Humanes tells us, that “the grieving process is quite a hard time.” Perhaps, it is not a moment in which we stop to think about other things.
Even so, the demand for green services and alternatives is increasing. “Yes, we do notice a greater interest,” says Nouel. And, at the same time, if the funeral home already offers them, it is rare who refuses to accept them, “but within the same price that they are willing to spend,” adds Humanes. As with other products, it is also difficult here to open the wallet a little more.
Will practices like human composting come to Spain? For now, it is making cabals and theories. Humanes does not make forecasts, although he does remember that in Spain, at first, cremation seemed like something alien and now the Spanish average is around 45%. “I don’t see why not,” says Nouel. Custom would make it complicated and as long as no one asks for it, the industry will hardly care about it, but as it becomes normal “eventually” it could appear.
In addition, generational changes are also noticeable in how we deal with death, and that opens up a potential change in how we feel about being composted. Return Home, one such American human composting company, has hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok. What seems most striking or strange to us today may not be so in, say, 50 years.
#Human #compost #funeral #rituals #greener