Human composting offers an environmentally friendly alternative to burial and cremation. Here's how it works.
Most people plan to either be buried or cremated when they die, but there is another, environmentally friendly option: Human composting.
"So instead of being cremated and turned into ash, you're getting gently transformed into soil," Tom Harries, CEO and founder of Earth Funeral, explained Thursday on "CBS Mornings Plus."
Harries described it as an "accelerated natural process" that takes about 30 days with the help of science and technology.
"You get left with soil at the end, and that's the really neat part is what you do with the soil," he said. "You can keep it, you can scatter it, you can plant it, and a lot of families donate the soil as well."
Donated soil has been sent to conservation projects where it's been used for reforestation, ecosystem restoration and wildfire restoration.
How human composting originated
The process was first legalized in Washington state in 2020. Since then, 11 other states have adopted the method. Those states are: Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Vermont, New York, Maine, Maryland and Delaware.
"It's labeled as a new process, but this is as old as the first living organisms," Harries said. "This is what happens to any living organism when it dies, but we're accelerating it as I say through science and technology, so it's a completely natural process."
The base cost of a "soil transformation package," according to the Earth Funeral website, is about $5,000.
Harries, who has started three companies in the industry, came across the process in 2020. For him, it's personal.
"The company prior to Earth was an online cremation company … and the thing I really realized is, I just didn't want to be cremated. It's a pollutive process. It's hard to be excited by the concept of getting cremated … I wanted it for me and I therefore wanted to bring it to others, too."
He said he sees the eco-friendly option becoming more popular in the future.
"Death is obviously deeply personal, a lot of considerations, religion is one of them. There's been a little bit of opposition, but I think it's a new concept. It will gain greater acceptance in mainstream culture at the time."