Environmentally Friendly Burial Choice: Body Composting

 

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Outside of the city of Denver, Colorado, a large industrial building sits between an auto¹ repair business and a used computer business. In that building, a man deals daily with life and death.

Seth Viddal and his employees have built a burial container, or "vessel²."

Recently they told reporters from the Associated Press that they hope this vessel will be the start of a more environmentally friendly type of burial science. This process will include the natural breakdown³ of the human body. Those in the burial business call this body composting.

"It is a natural process where the body is returned to an elemental level over a short period of time," said Viddal.

He said it is similar to composting of food and yard waste. "This is the same process, but done with a human body inside of a vessel, and in our case, in a controlled environment."

On September 7, 2021, Colorado became the second state after Washington to permit human body composting. Oregon will permit the practice beginning next July. In Washington state, there are three businesses licensed⁴ to compost human remains⁵.

Together, they have composted at least 85 bodies since the law took effect in May 2020. More than 900 people have signed up for this service as natural funerals become more popular.

Body composting process

Viddal co-owns The Natural Funeral in Lafayette, Colorado.

Soon after the Colorado legislation was signed into law, he started building the vessel in an industrial part of town.

The vessel is about 2 meters long, about one meter wide, and about one meter deep. The box is lined with waterproof⁶ material and packed with wood chips and straw. Two large wheels on either end, allow it to be rolled across the floor. This provides the air and movement needed for a body to compost.

The vessel must reach 55 degrees Celsius⁷ for 72 continuous hours to kill any bacteria and germs. Teeth are removed to prevent poisoning from chemicals used in teeth repair.

Then after about three months, the vessel is opened and the "soil" is examined for medical devices. The remaining large bones are returned to the vessel for another three months of composting.

In six months, the body, wood chips, and straw will turn into soil. Family members can keep the soil to use in their yards. However, Colorado law forbids selling it and using it to grow food for human use. Also, the state only permits licensed funeral homes and crematories to compost human bodies.

Viddal calls the process an "exciting" environmentally friendly choice. He added that in death, he also sees life.

"Composting itself is a very living function and it is performed by living organisms," he told reporters. He added that there are billions of microbes in our bodies. And when life ends, the life of those microbes continues.

Viddal said body composting successfully turns the body back into something good for the Earth.

However, not everyone approves of body composting.

The Colorado Catholic Conference is a group of religious leaders who aim to shape public policy. They oppose the process. The religious organization said in statements that body composting "does not promote human dignity."

Some Jewish religious leaders are also against body composting. They say it violates Jewish religious law.

Other opponents are concerned about a lack of research. They fear the body compost might poison the soil. They also fear misuse⁸ of the body soil.

"We don't know what they're going to do with it if they take it all home," said Stacey Kleinman. She is a board member of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association.

The group helped to write the legislation, but has said is not for or against body composting.

Opposition⁹ aside, several other U.S. states are considering body composting. More Americans seem to be becoming open to "green" burial practices.

This past summer, the Choice Mutual¹⁰ Insurance Agency asked 1,500 Americans how they wanted their bodies to be dealt with. Traditional burial and cremation¹¹ were the common answer.

However, 11 percent said they would choose a burial involving a natural process. Back in 2020, only 4 percent said they would choose that.

Choice Mutual did not specifically ask about body composting. But the results seem to show an increased interest in more natural and environmentally friendly options.

Cost of body composting

The Natural Funeral charges $7,900 for body composting, compared with $2,200 for flame cremation. Viddal notes that a traditional burial and service in the Denver area can cost more than $10,000. The company has not yet composted any bodies, but several people have signed up and paid for the service.

Micah Truman is head of the company Return Home near Seattle, Washington. So far, his company has composted 16 bodies.

Truman said body composting is new. So he said it is a matter of "changing hearts and minds right now." But he has been surprised by how many young people are interested.

"Our young people are going to teach us how to die better. It has been really powerful for us," Truman said. He added that younger generations have a greater connection to living and dying in ways that are friendlier to the Earth.

And that's the Health & Lifestyle report.

Words in This Story

compost –v. to convert (a material, such as plant debris) to compost : -n. decayed organic material (as of leaves and grass) used to improve soil especially for growing crops

level -n. an amount of something

yard -n. a small usually walled and often paved area open to the sky and adjacent to a building : yard waste -n. cut grass, clippings from trees, bushes, and other plants

funeral -n. a ceremony held for a dead person

allow –v. to give permission to

function -n. the action for which a person or thing is designed or used

cremation –v. the process of reducing a dead body to mostly tiny bits of bone resembling ash that involves exposing the body to flame and intense heat followed by pulverization¹² of bone fragments

microbe -n. an extremely small living thing that can only be seen with a microscope

dignity -n. the quality or state of being worthy of honor and respect

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

3 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

4 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 waterproof   

n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水

参考例句：

• My mother bought me a waterproof watch.我妈妈给我买了一块防水手表。
• All the electronics are housed in a waterproof box.所有电子设备都储放在一个防水盒中。

7 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

8 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

11 cremation   

n.火葬，火化

参考例句：

• Cremation is more common than burial in some countries. 在一些国家，火葬比土葬普遍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Garbage cremation can greatly reduce the occupancy of land. 垃圾焚烧可以大大减少占用土地。 来自互联网

12 pulverization   

n.弄成粉，粉碎；粉化

参考例句：

• Do photosensitive pulverization to beauty parlour, establish lever to see a movie. 到美容院做光敏雾化，立杆见影。 来自互联网
• Cryogenic pulverization system uses it to Seperate and collect powder. 低温粉碎系统应用它分离粉体并起集粉作用。 来自互联网