Recompose is a public benefit corporation founded by designer and death care advocate Katrina Spade in 2017, building upon her 2014 non-profit organizationUrban Death Project. Recompose is a Washington state based company offering a death care service to convert human bodies into soil through a process known as natural organic reduction, or human composting. The process, which takes about 30 days, is a green alternative to the existing disposal options of cremation and burial. In March 2020, Recompose announced the appointment of new General Manager Kira Franz. She comes from more than a year as director of operations at Madrona Venture Labs in Seattle.
The Recompose Process
How it Works
Recompose has a patent pending process where bodies are placed in a vessel with natural materials such as wood chips and alfalfa. A fan system is setup to provide air that ensures enough oxygen is getting to the body, and the soft tissue breaks down in about a month, transforming into about two wheelbarrows worth of soil. Families of the deceased can keep the soil, use it to plant a tree, or through a partnership with Forterra, Washington's largest land conservation organization, can donate soil to help rehabilitate forest land in Washington State.
Safety
To prove natural organic reduction as safe and effective, Recompose participated in a study with Western Washington University designed and managed by soil scientist Lynne Carpenter-Boggs. Six donors participated in the study and Boggs indicated the result "was clean, rich, odorless soil that passed all federal and state safety guidelines for potentially hazardous pathogens and pollutants, such as metals."
Legalization
Washington State is the first state to legalize natural organic reduction. SB 5001, which goes into effect on May 1, 2020. Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill which passed with bipartisan majority: 80-16 in the House and 38-11 in the Senate. A similar bill will be considered in the state of Colorado in 2020. In California, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia introduced introduced Assembly Bill 2592 to allow for human composting.
Facility
The first Recompose facility will open in the SODO area of Seattle, Washington in the spring of 2021 where 75 vessels will be built and "arranged to surround a large, airy gathering space at the center of the 18,500-square-foot facility". Architecture firmOlson Kundig is designing the facility, with principal and owner Alan Maskin leading the effort. Maskin indicated "This facility hosts the Recompose vessels, but it is also an important space for ritual and public gathering. The project will ultimately foster a more direct, participatory experience and dialogue around death and the celebration of life.”
History
Origins
was raised in rural New Hampshire by a family who wasn't religious, but found spirituality in nature. Considering her own mortality Spade wanted more options that were less toxic, environmentally and economically friendly, and options that allowed family and friends to participate in the care of their loved one. She formulated early ideas about the possibility of human recomposition but when she learned about the practice of livestock mortality composting, she began work to create the same option for humans. Katrina Spade was awarded the Echoing Green Climate Fellowship for this work in 2014.
Urban Death Project
Urban Death Project was founded in 2014. It formed a partnership with Western Carolina University's Forensic Anthropology Department. Urban Death Project's Kickstarter Campaign raises $91,000 from over 1200 Backers in 2015. Research began in 2016 with Washington State University's Soil Science Department led by Lynne-Carpenter Boggs, PhD, Associate Professor of Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Design intensive with architecture firm Olson Kundig Wake Forest University School of Law Research led by Professor Tanya Marsh In 2017 Urban Death Project's Western Carolina University Forensic Anthropology partnership featured in Caitlin Doughty's bestseller From Here to Eternity; Traveling the World to Find the Good Death in 2017, published by W.W. Norton and Company. In 2017 the non-profit Urban Death Project dissolved and Recompose.
