The Delaware legislature has approved legislation that would allow residents to compost dead bodies instead of traditional burial in a casket or cremation.
Composting reduces the dead to soil using natural processes. As opposed to preservation using formaldehyde or cremation that releases carbon dioxide and mercury into the air, composting “uses large vessels to hold human remains together with straw, wood chips, or other natural materials for about 30 days,” the legislation explains.
The legislation now goes to the desk of Gov. John Carney, a Democrat, after the Delaware Senate’s 14-7 vote Thursday and the state House’s 37-2 approval in January.
In composting, the contents of the vessels are periodically turned, and the family of the deceased receives the composted soil at the end of the process.
The practice is legal in Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, California, New York and Nevada, according to the Associated Press.
Not all human remains would be allowed to be composted under the bill.
Those who died from a radiological accident or incident, those with radioactive implants and those who died infected with prion disease, Ebola, tuberculosis or any other disease that could survive the composting process will not be legally compostable.
“This choice may not be for everyone, but we can respect those who wish to turn their bodies into soil by allowing this sustainable death care option to be available in Delaware,” said bill sponsor state Sen. Laura Sturgeon, a Democrat, according to the AP.
Opponents of the bill cited the sanctity of the human body as their reason for opposing human composting.
“I think I have a little bit more respect for the human body than to turn it into soil. As far as turning my body into dirt, I just can’t, I can’t see this as something that I can support. I know that it can be an option for other people, but I just can’t support it,” said state Sen. Bryant Richardson, a Republican, according to news site Delaware Live.