{{COI|date=December 2019}} {{Infobox company | name = Recompose | logo = Recompose Logo.png | type = Public-benefit corporation | industry = Deathcare | founded = 2017 | founder = Katrina Spade | hq_location = Seattle, WA | website = {{URL|www.recompose.life}} }}
'''Recompose''' is a public benefit corporation founded by designer and death care advocate Katrina Spade in 2017,<ref name="nbcnews washington could">{{Cite news |last=Laylin |first=Tafline |date=2018-12-29 |title=Washington could become the first state to legalize human composting |work=NBC News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/washington-could-become-first-state-legalize-human-composting-n952421 |access-date=2023-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230524232053/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/washington-could-become-first-state-legalize-human-composting-n952421 |archive-date=2023-05-24}}</ref> building upon her 2014 non-profit organization '''Urban 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,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://psmag.com/environment/is-human-composting-the-green-future-of-burials|title=Why human composting might be the green alternative to conventional burials}}</ref> is marketed as a green alternative to the existing disposal options of cremation and burial.<ref name="nbcnews washington could" /><ref name="wbur set">{{Cite news|url=https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/05/16/human-composting-washington|title=Soil Instead Of Ashes: Human Composting Is About To Become Legal In Washington State}}</ref>
== 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.<ref name="wbur set" /> A fan system is set up to provide air that ensures enough oxygen is getting to the body, and the soft tissue<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ghosh |first=Pallab |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51389084 |title=Human compost funerals 'better for environment' |date=2020-02-16 |work=BBC News |access-date=2020-02-16 |language=en-GB}}</ref> breaks down in about a month, transforming into about two wheelbarrows worth of soil.<ref name="wbur set" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/recompose-the-human-composting-project-finds-a-home-in-seattles-sodo/|title=Recompose, the human-composting alternative to burial and cremation, finds a home in Seattle's Sodo area}}</ref>
=== 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.<ref name="seattle times becomes">{{Cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/washington-becomes-first-state-to-legalize-human-composting/|title=Washington becomes first state to legalize human composting}}</ref> Six donors participated in the study and Boggs, who is working for recompose as a paid advisor,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/recompose-the-first-human-compositing-funeral-home-in-the-u-s-is-now-open-for-business/|title=Recompose, the first human-composting funeral home in the U.S., is now open for business|date=2021-01-22 |access-date=2023-10-09}}</ref> 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".<ref name="seattle times becomes" />
==History== ===Origins=== Recompose founder Spade was raised in rural New Hampshire by a family who wasn't religious, but found spirituality in nature.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/faithbased/2015/07/urban_death_project_wants_us_to_compost_the_dead_can_religious_groups_get.html|title=From Compost You Came and to Compost You Shall Return|last=Bayles|first=Cara|date=2015-07-15|work=Slate|access-date=2018-02-27|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/katrina-spade|title=Katrina Spade {{!}} Echoing Green|website=www.echoinggreen.org|language=en|access-date=2018-02-27}}</ref>
Considering her own mortality Spade wanted more options that were less toxic,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thestranger.com/features/feature/2015/03/03/21792773/the-architect-who-wants-to-redesign-being-dead|title=The Architect Who Wants to Redesign Being Dead|work=The Stranger|access-date=2018-02-27|language=en}}</ref> environmentally and economically friendly,<ref name="auto1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/from-corpse-to-compost-the-urban-death-projects-modest-proposal/|title=Seattle could get an Urban Death Project human composter in just 7 years|date=2016-10-28|work=The Seattle Times|access-date=2018-02-27|language=en-US}}</ref> and options that allowed family and friends to participate in the care of their loved one.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.metropolismag.com/cities/the-urban-death-project-bringing-death-back-into-the-urban-realm/|title=The Urban Death Project: Bringing Death Back Into the Urban Realm|date=2017-02-24|work=Metropolis|access-date=2018-02-27|language=en-US}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thestranger.com/features/feature/2015/03/03/21792773/the-architect-who-wants-to-redesign-being-dead|title=The Architect Who Wants to Redesign Being Dead|work=The Stranger|access-date=2018-02-26|language=en}}</ref>
Katrina Spade was awarded the Echoing Green Climate Fellowship for this work in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://archive.seattleweekly.com/news/953590-129/the-urban-death-project-will-help|title=The Urban Death Project Will Help You Give Back—by Turning You Into Compost|work=Seattle Weekly|access-date=2018-02-28}}</ref>
===Urban Death Project=== Urban Death Project was founded in 2014.<ref name="auto"/> It formed a partnership with Western Carolina University's Forensic Anthropology Department.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news-prod.wcu.edu/2016/02/wcu-contingent-works-on-latest-phase-of-urban-death-project/|title=WCU contingent works on latest phase of Urban Death Project|date=2016-02-04|work=WCU News|access-date=2018-02-26|language=en-US}}</ref>
Urban Death Project's Kickstarter Campaign raised $91,000 from over 1200 Backers in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/546469190/the-urban-death-project-laying-our-loved-ones-to-r|title=the Urban Death Project: Laying Our Loved Ones to Rest|website=Kickstarter|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-26}}</ref>
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.,<ref name="auto1"/> while law students at Wake Forest University school of law examined the legal hurdles.<ref name="auto1" />
In 2017 Urban Death Project's Western Carolina University Forensic Anthropology partnership was featured in Caitlin Doughty's bestseller ''From Here to Eternity; Traveling the World to Find the Good Death''.
In 2017 the non-profit Urban Death Project dissolved and Recompose (a benefit corporation) was founded.
=== Facility === After Washington State legalized natural organic reduction in 2020, Recompose opened its first facility on December 20, 2020<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Kiley|first=Brendan|date=Jan 22, 2021|title=Recompose, the first human-composting funeral home in the U.S., is now open for business|work=The Seattle Times|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/recompose-the-first-human-compositing-funeral-home-in-the-u-s-is-now-open-for-business/}}</ref> outside of Seattle, Washington. The original plan for a 18,500-square-foot facility, designed by architecture firm Olson Kundig, housing 75 vessels "arranged to surround a large, airy gathering space<ref name="Fastcompany bio">{{Cite news|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90434525/the-worlds-first-human-composting-facility-could-help-us-recycle-ourselves|title=The world's first human composting facility will let us recycle ourselves}}</ref> were put on hold due to COVID 19.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Kiley|first=Brendan|date=Aug 7, 2020|title=COVID moves Recompose, the human-composting alternative to burial and cremation, into smaller space, accelerated timeline|work=The Seattle Times|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/covid-moves-recompose-the-human-composting-alternative-to-burial-and-cremation-into-smaller-space-accelerated-timeline/}}</ref> Instead, a much smaller location which Spade describes as “a workhorse facility” that holds only 10 vessels and has no public-gathering space opened in Kent, Washington.<ref name=":1" /> However, friends and chosen family of the deceased can watch that laying-in process over a livestream.<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External Websites == *[https://www.recompose.life/ Recompose.life]
Category:2017 establishments in Washington (state) Category:American companies established in 2017 Category:Companies based in Seattle Category:Death in Washington (state) Category:Death care companies of the United States Category:Biodegradation