Katrina Spade founded Recompose, which is a Seattle based human composting company. Her brother Wayne died and we called the Recompose Facility very much like you would any funeral home; they came and got his body. We were able to send biomass our own flowers to be layered over Wayne's body. And we had a chance to sing some songs and say poems and witness his entry into the cylinder. It felt very natural and very wonderful, frankly.
Remember you are dirt and to dirt you shall return. Science journalist Eleanor Cummins and law professor Tanya Marsh explain the rise of human composting, now legal in six states, as an alternative to burial or cremation.
This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Noel King.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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