New York state has officially legalized so-called human composting, making it the sixth state to allow human beings to authorize turning their remains into organic material after they die, mostly for the benefit of local flora and fauna.
On Saturday, Governor Kathy Hochul (D) signed legislation permitting people to seek a process that Shakespeare’s Hamlet aptly describes as fatting “ourselves for maggots” but that others call a more environmentally friendly means of decomposition. Rather than cremating or embalming a deceased person and placing him or her in a casket, this process, billed as “natural organic reduction,” involves placing the deceased in a reusable receptacle filled with organic materials, such as wood chips, alfalfa, or straw; infusing the receptacle with heat and oxygen; and allowing microbes to decompose the body naturally. All remaining teeth and other bone fragments are then ground up and mixed into the composted material as well.
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