May be the most ecologically beneficial way to dispose of the dead.

I can think of a few Ozpolitic denizens who should be composted immediately as a benefit to society.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/04/26/washington-passes-bill-become-first-state-compost-human-bodies/?utm_term=.eb73576b5a7f


Quote:

Washington passes bill to become first state to compost human bodies “We’re making about a cubic yard of soil per person,” the founder of the company Recompose said. Finished materials from the human-body composting process. (Washington State University) By Ben Guarino April 26 at 7:48 PM It may soon be legal for the dead to push daisies, or any other flower, in backyard gardens across Washington state. The state legislature recently passed a bill that, if signed by the governor, allows human bodies to be composted — and used for mulch. As the nation ages, U.S. funeral practices are changing. Rates of cremation surpassed 50 percent in 2016, overtaking burials as the most popular choice. The Census Bureau, in a 2017 report, predicted a death boom: 1 million more Americans are projected to die in 2037 than they did in 2015. Human composting, its supporters say, is an eco-friendly option that can meet this growing demand. A Seattle-based company called Recompose plans to offer a service called “natural organic reduction” (it has two patents pending) that uses microbes to transform the departed — skin, bones and all. “We have this one universal human experience, of death, and technology has not changed what we do in any meaningful way,” said state Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D), who introduced the bill, which passed with bipartisan support on April 19. “There are significant environmental problems” with burying and burning bodies, he said. Joshua Trey Barnett, an expert on ecological communication at the University of Minnesota at Duluth, listed the flaws in conventional burials: “We embalm bodies with toxic solutions, bury them in expensive caskets made of precious woods and metals and then indefinitely commit them to a plot of land.” Though incineration has a smaller ecological footprint, estimates suggest the average cremated body emits roughly 40 pounds of carbon and requires nearly 30 gallons of fuel to burn. The bill awaits Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who placed climate change at the center of the presidential bid he announced in March. “The bill passed the legislature with bipartisan support and appears to be eco-friendly,” said Tara Lee, a spokeswoman in Inslee’s office. Inslee has 20 days to review the bill, which arrived on his desk Thursday. “He has not stated how he will act on this,” Lee said. Burial practices are largely matters of state, not federal, law. The bill, which would take effect on May 1, 2020, also would legalize alkaline hydrolysis. That method turns bodies to liquid using a base such as lye. In the past decade, more than a dozen states have approved it. Pedersen said he would be “shocked, frankly,” if the governor did not sign the bill into law. Recompose founder Katrina Spade met Pedersen in a Seattle coffee shop last year and pitched the idea of legalizing human composting. The company’s system, she said, is a souped-up version of natural microbial decomposition. “It is actually the same process happening on the forest floor as leaf litter, chipmunks and tree branches decompose and turn into topsoil,” Spade said. The company’s service, which would include a funeral ceremony, will cost about $5,500, she said (more than the average cremation but less than burial in a casket). Microbes go to work within a large vessel, about eight feet tall and four feet wide, that fits a single body along with alfalfa, straw and wood chips. Over the course of 30 days, as temperatures in the vessel rise to 150 degrees, decomposition destroys the body, along with most pathogens and pharmaceuticals, Spade said. Pacemakers would be removed beforehand; artificial joints or other implants sifted out afterward. “We’re making about a cubic yard of soil per person,” Spade said. Families would be allowed to take the compost home, or, because it’s a lot of soil, donate it to conservation groups in the Puget Sound region. Restrictions on where the soil could be applied would mirror rules for scattering ashes — broadly speaking, only on land with an owner’s permission. The decomposition technique “is now a fairly common procedure” used to dispose of livestock carcasses, said Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, a soil scientist at Washington State University and an adviser to Recompose. During an outbreak of avian flu, Carpenter-Boggs helped farmers implement a similar method to destroy potentially infected poultry. Carpenter-Boggs recently oversaw a pilot study in which Recompose composted six donated cadavers. The results are still unpublished, but Recompose claimed in a news release the soil met safety thresholds set by the state’s ecology department. “The material we had, at the end, was really lovely,” Carpenter-Boggs said. “I’d be happy to have it in my yard.” Barnett said the media often inflates the “ick factor” of human composting. “Very few people I talk with have this response,” he said. He added: “If most folks knew the ins and outs of embalming, I suspect they would find it much ickier in fact than composting.”...

You can't compost a sock, so you are safe.

Posted a similar thread yesterday which included 'water cremations', 'natural burials' and a few others

Not a popular topic judging from the few (if any) responses other than Ajax intoning something from the Bible

We have to start thinking of death and burials differently, but it's a touchy subject which is understandable

We're squeamish, for a start. These days, undertakers are employed to turn bodies into something presentable and dignified -- then we can place flowers at the grave and it's all 'seemly'

the reality is, we begin decomposing a few seconds after death -- eight or six seconds, can't remember

the spirit has left the body and what's left is as meaningless as the old t-shirt we throw in the recycling bin or the rusting old cars in the wrecker's yard

but it's hard to remain detached when it's the empty body of someone/something we loved and cherished

70% of all body-disposal in Australia is via cremation, according to yesterday's article. So we're doing our best. And it's no easy thing to cremate, i.e., burn to ash, the body of someone we kissed last week.  It's been a problem confronting humans since time began.  They placed grave gifts and gifts for the afterlife in with the bodies, and flowers, ochre and other symbols of love from the living to those they'd lost

The freeze-dry method appeals to me the most, but it's not available in Australia currently.  I read about it ten years or so ago, so was happy to find it amongst future body-disposal methods.  The body is frozen, then smashed to bits by lasers, then freeze dried to remove moisture.  Then the dried flakes can be disposed of anyway the mourners like.  A nice send-off would be to send the freeze dried flakes up in fireworks, although there's bound to be objections on ecological grounds any day now

others have paid to send their loved-one's remains (not the entire body, surely) to be compressed to form -- eventually -- a diamond in any colour the mourner chooses.  The gem can then be fashioned into an item of jewellery.  Some would like that, others not, and there's always the chance the jewellery item could be stolen, lost

The composting of human bodies popularity remains to be seen.  Doubt I'd want to turn any of my loved-ones into compost, practical or not

but at least we're having the conversation which is more than they get in China.  A few months back I launched a thread about 'Burial Free China' and again, don't think it got much attention.  The linked article showed Chinese authorities burning coffins to get the message through.  In the article, it said that for rural Chinese in particular, owning one's own coffin while still alive was popular for those who could afford it.  It spared mourners the expense of finding a coffin when someone died.  So a lot of the coffins shown being burned by Chinese authorities were of the coffins-in-advance type.  One guy refused to get out of the coffin he'd slaved and saved to pay for in preparation for his own demise.  So he, along with his coffin, was tossed onto the bonfire by teh authorities -- again, to get the message through

Here in Oz, alternative forms of body-disposal are still in the softly-softly stage -- getting us used to other than marble monuments and acres of buried corpses.  We have plenty of land in Oz and much of it is not much use for agriculture, so our authorities don't feel the need to be as radical as their Chinese counterparts

a symbolic cremation such as they have every minute on the banks of the Ganges, where scented wood is prohibitively expensive and where mourners can only afford a few pieces of it, results in partially burned bodies being tipped into the waiting gaws of overfed crocodiles.  That would take a strong stomach

as would another form of body-disposal in India, whereby the bodies are placed on shelves atop circular, purpose build structures, the intention being for vultures to devour the bodies placed high in open air. Similar to Tibet, where wood is scarce and the ground hard and rocky


tough subject, but currently we have 8 billion human bodies which will need to be disposed of within at most, one hundred years

firing them into a black hole sounds ideal.  Not sure we have the technology.  But it would satisfy a lot of human needs -- sending our loved-ones into the cosmos being but one

I will try and find a link, but we had a chap here in WA that was advocating this back in the 70,s

He invented the heat treatment pelletising of compost to clear any pathogens.
I think he saw human bodies as a huge resource that was going to waste.


http://museum.wa.gov.au/welcomewalls/names/faydherbe-christian

Valkie wrote on Apr 28^th, 2019 at 12:45pm:

You can't compost a sock, so you are safe.

Laugh doesn't have socks, Matty.

You?

Burial at Sea to feed the ever decreasing amount of sea life.
Or Buried under Trees for nutrients.

Probably better than being compost for a family's backyard Vege Garden.  ;)

They used to say that draining the remaining 'essences' from someone just deceased... and 'drinking' the liquid - gives 10 years onto a person's life-span. 8-)

But it has to be from a Dead Person, for a Living Person's essence would have a reverse effect.

...So go out a kill people today and drain their essences and you'll live forever!  ;)

Jasin wrote on Apr 28^th, 2019 at 4:59pm:

They used to say that draining the remaining 'essences' from someone just deceased... and 'drinking' the liquid - gives 10 years onto a person's life-span. 8-) But it has to be from a Dead Person, for a Living Person's essence would have a reverse effect. ...So go out a kill people today and drain their essences and you'll live forever!  ;)

Fellatio on a cadaver?

Laugh till you cry wrote on Apr 28^th, 2019 at 5:06pm:

Jasin wrote on Apr 28th, 2019 at 4:59pm: They used to say that draining the remaining 'essences' from someone just deceased... and 'drinking' the liquid - gives 10 years onto a person's life-span. 8-) But it has to be from a Dead Person, for a Living Person's essence would have a reverse effect. ...So go out a kill people today and drain their essences and you'll live forever!  ;) Fellatio on a cadaver?

Er, no.  ::)
You really are a sick and depraved latent homosexual aren't you LTYC? :-?

Jasin wrote on Apr 28^th, 2019 at 5:14pm:

Laugh till you cry wrote on Apr 28th, 2019 at 5:06pm: Jasin wrote on Apr 28th, 2019 at 4:59pm: They used to say that draining the remaining 'essences' from someone just deceased... and 'drinking' the liquid - gives 10 years onto a person's life-span. 8-) But it has to be from a Dead Person, for a Living Person's essence would have a reverse effect. ...So go out a kill people today and drain their essences and you'll live forever!  ;) Fellatio on a cadaver? Er, no.  ::) You really are a sick and depraved latent homosexual aren't you LTYC? :-?

JaSin exposes himself with the wish that I was a cadaver and that I was a homosexual to gratify his depraved fantasies.

This forum should stop pretending it's about politics and become what it really is -- a meeting place for old homosexual men with extreme kinks.

https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/1906476/83191502.jpg

Can we call the service Soylent Green?

Denizen Yadda has started decomposing before he has fallen over.

Laugh till you cry wrote on Apr 29^th, 2019 at 1:24pm:

Denizen Yadda has started decomposing before he has fallen over.

Dog pack.  Attacking in numbers when they think someone's down -- or peaceable -- or thoughtful -- or modest and humble

which cowardly dog packs translate as vulnerable

The Reboot wrote on Apr 29^th, 2019 at 12:55pm:

This forum should stop pretending it's about politics and become what it really is -- a meeting place for old homosexual men with extreme kinks. https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/1906476/83191502.jpg

What would you call "extreme"?    :-/

PZ547 wrote on Apr 29^th, 2019 at 1:26pm:

Laugh till you cry wrote on Apr 29th, 2019 at 1:24pm: Denizen Yadda has started decomposing before he has fallen over. Dog pack.  Attacking in numbers when they think someone's down -- or peaceable -- or thoughtful -- or modest and humble which cowardly dog packs translate as vulnerable

Thanks for offering your neck but I must decline. You may be multiply infested.

Perhaps you should start a human sacrifice forum.

Laugh till you cry wrote on Apr 29^th, 2019 at 1:29pm:

PZ547 wrote on Apr 29th, 2019 at 1:26pm: Laugh till you cry wrote on Apr 29th, 2019 at 1:24pm: Denizen Yadda has started decomposing before he has fallen over. Dog pack.  Attacking in numbers when they think someone's down -- or peaceable -- or thoughtful -- or modest and humble which cowardly dog packs translate as vulnerable Thanks for offering your neck but I must decline. You may be multiply infested. Perhaps you should start a human sacrifice forum.

that was a fail response

you're trying too hard too often

miketrees wrote on Apr 28^th, 2019 at 12:46pm:

I will try and find a link, but we had a chap here in WA that was advocating this back in the 70,s He invented the heat treatment pelletising of compost to clear any pathogens. I think he saw human bodies as a huge resource that was going to waste. http://museum.wa.gov.au/welcomewalls/names/faydherbe-christian

You can't convince some people and families to donate organs.....

Much harder to talk them into making Ma or Pa, son or daughter into compost for fertiliser.

PZ547 wrote on Apr 28^th, 2019 at 12:45pm:

Posted a similar thread yesterday which included 'water cremations', 'natural burials' and a few others Not a popular topic judging from the few (if any) responses other than Ajax intoning something from the Bible We have to start thinking of death and burials differently, but it's a touchy subject which is understandable We're squeamish, for a start. These days, undertakers are employed to turn bodies into something presentable and dignified -- then we can place flowers at the grave and it's all 'seemly' the reality is, we begin decomposing a few seconds after death -- eight or six seconds, can't remember the spirit has left the body and what's left is as meaningless as the old t-shirt we throw in the recycling bin or the rusting old cars in the wrecker's yard but it's hard to remain detached when it's the empty body of someone/something we loved and cherished 70% of all body-disposal in Australia is via cremation, according to yesterday's article. So we're doing our best. And it's no easy thing to cremate, i.e., burn to ash, the body of someone we kissed last week.  It's been a problem confronting humans since time began.  They placed grave gifts and gifts for the afterlife in with the bodies, and flowers, ochre and other symbols of love from the living to those they'd lost The freeze-dry method appeals to me the most, but it's not available in Australia currently.  I read about it ten years or so ago, so was happy to find it amongst future body-disposal methods.  The body is frozen, then smashed to bits by lasers, then freeze dried to remove moisture.  Then the dried flakes can be disposed of anyway the mourners like.  A nice send-off would be to send the freeze dried flakes up in fireworks, although there's bound to be objections on ecological grounds any day now others have paid to send their loved-one's remains (not the entire body, surely) to be compressed to form -- eventually -- a diamond in any colour the mourner chooses.  The gem can then be fashioned into an item of jewellery.  Some would like that, others not, and there's always the chance the jewellery item could be stolen, lost The composting of human bodies popularity remains to be seen.  Doubt I'd want to turn any of my loved-ones into compost, practical or not but at least we're having the conversation which is more than they get in China.  A few months back I launched a thread about 'Burial Free China' and again, don't think it got much attention.  The linked article showed Chinese authorities burning coffins to get the message through.  In the article, it said that for rural Chinese in particular, owning one's own coffin while still alive was popular for those who could afford it.  It spared mourners the expense of finding a coffin when someone died.  So a lot of the coffins shown being burned by Chinese authorities were of the coffins-in-advance type.  One guy refused to get out of the coffin he'd slaved and saved to pay for in preparation for his own demise.  So he, along with his coffin, was tossed onto the bonfire by teh authorities -- again, to get the message through Here in Oz, alternative forms of body-disposal are still in the softly-softly stage -- getting us used to other than marble monuments and acres of buried corpses.  We have plenty of land in Oz and much of it is not much use for agriculture, so our authorities don't feel the need to be as radical as their Chinese counterparts a symbolic cremation such as they have every minute on the banks of the Ganges, where scented wood is prohibitively expensive and where mourners can only afford a few pieces of it, results in partially burned bodies being tipped into the waiting gaws of overfed crocodiles.  That would take a strong stomach as would another form of body-disposal in India, whereby the bodies are placed on shelves atop circular, purpose build structures, the intention being for vultures to devour the bodies placed high in open air. Similar to Tibet, where wood is scarce and the ground hard and rocky tough subject, but currently we have 8 billion human bodies which will need to be disposed of within at most, one hundred years firing them into a black hole sounds ideal.  Not sure we have the technology.  But it would satisfy a lot of human needs -- sending our loved-ones into the cosmos being but one

If you saw what water cremations did to the Ganges you wouldn't be entertaining that idea as beneficial to our water environments.

We struggle to keep our sewage out of it.

In the last 30 years every funeral I have attended be the person young or old.... they have been cremations.

So seems many are OK with it ....better than rotting in the ground and ashes are often spread elsewhere in favouritespecial places.

Can't just throw bodies anywhere you like. :P

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 29^th, 2019 at 1:29pm:

The Reboot wrote on Apr 29th, 2019 at 12:55pm: This forum should stop pretending it's about politics and become what it really is -- a meeting place for old homosexual men with extreme kinks. https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/1906476/83191502.jpg What would you call "extreme"?    :-/

Performing fallatio on a cadaver.  ;D

The Reboot wrote on Apr 29^th, 2019 at 6:40pm:

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 29th, 2019 at 1:29pm: The Reboot wrote on Apr 29th, 2019 at 12:55pm: This forum should stop pretending it's about politics and become what it really is -- a meeting place for old homosexual men with extreme kinks. https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/1906476/83191502.jpg What would you call "extreme"?    :-/ Performing fallatio on a cadaver.  ;D

Thanks Reboot. That just grossed me right out!  ;D
I used to have to work with deceased in those Cold Rooms.

Jasin wrote on Apr 29^th, 2019 at 6:43pm:

The Reboot wrote on Apr 29th, 2019 at 6:40pm: greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 29th, 2019 at 1:29pm: The Reboot wrote on Apr 29th, 2019 at 12:55pm: This forum should stop pretending it's about politics and become what it really is -- a meeting place for old homosexual men with extreme kinks. https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/1906476/83191502.jpg What would you call "extreme"?    :-/ Performing fallatio on a cadaver.  ;D Thanks Reboot. That just grossed me right out!  ;D I used to have to work with deceased in those Cold Rooms.

You never ever found one laying face down with a cork in his bum?


Quote:

A medical student was in the morgue one day after classes getting a little practice in before the final exams. He went over to a table where a body was lying face down. He removed the sheet over the body and to his surprise he found a cork in the corpse's rectum. Figuring this was fairly unusual, he pulled the cork out, and to his surprise, music began playing, "Some enchanted evening. . .you may find a stranger  . . " The student was amazed, and placed the cork back in the rectum. The music stopped. Totally freaked out, the student called the Medical Examiner over to the corpse. "Look at this. This is really something!" the student told the examiner as he pulled the cork back out again. "Some enchanted evening ....you may find a stranger ." "So what?", the Medical Examiner replied, obviously unimpressed with the student's discovery. "But isn't that the most amazing thing you've ever seen?" asked the student. "Are you kidding?" replied the Examiner, "you got me over hear just to hear some bum sing?"

;D ;D ;D ;D