CO lawmakers propose new death care option: human composting

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo (KRDO) - Two Colorado lawmakers have proposed a bill to allow a fourth dead care option in the state: human composting.

Caskets and urns are common, but have you ever heard of turning a body into soil?

The new option would take care of your loved one's remains by letting nature take its course - turning the body into mulch, and bringing it full circle back to the earth.

It's a unique process State Senator Robert Rodriguez and State Representative Brianna Titone want to make legal.

Woodchips, straw, and alfalfa get placed into the cylinder with the body and some water, then the body's bacteria break it down into organic compost.

It's the same thing that would happen if a body decomposes in the woods, but this way, it only takes 30 days.

The average burial costs $8,000 to $10,000 -- half of that is the casket. Cremations cost around $4,000.

Titone says composting your body would cost around $5,000, but it's the most environmentally sound choice.

Natural Organic Reduction doesn't release fossil fuels, like cremation, and it doesn't involve placing foreign objects in the ground.

"We think about why Colorado's so great, it's our Colorado way of life that involves a lot of nature,” Titone said.

Colorado is the 7th fastest growing state in the country.

Advocates for human composting say that means adding a sustainable death care option is more vital than ever.

"People now are really thinking green and they want to think about the legacy that they leave, and this is a process where people can really be conscious about it up until the very end of life," Rep. Titone said.

There is a 3rd death care option legal right now; it's called alkaline dissolution, where the body is broken down by chemicals over a six-hour period. It costs anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000.

But Titone says it's not quite as sentimental.

"This one is just a little bit more gentle, there's a lot more ritual behind it," She said.

If the bill passes, Colorado would be the second state after Washington to allow Natural Organic Reduction.