Composting “is a fabulous option,” University of Tennessee environmental microbiologist Jennifer DeBruyn, who did not participate in the research, tells Science News. The approach has long been used to process animal carcasses, she notes. “The idea of applying it to humans, to me, as an ecologist and someone who has worked in composting, it just makes perfect sense, honestly.”

Recompose’s recipe includes woodchips, alfalfa, and straw grass. A body is placed in a closed vessel with these materials and rotated slowly to encourage microbial breakdown of the tissues. In a month’s time, the composted material—a couple cubic yards of bone-riddled soil that meets EPA safety standards—is made available to relatives, who can spread it in their garden or use it to plant a tree.