# Recompose

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recompose
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{{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](/source/Seattle%2C_WA)
| website = {{URL|www.recompose.life}}
}}

'''Recompose''' is a [public benefit corporation](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Nonprofit_organization) '''Urban Death Project'''.

Recompose is a [Washington state](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/religion), but found [spirituality](/source/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 [compost](/source/compost)ing, 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](/source/Western_Carolina_University)'s [Forensic Anthropology](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Washington_State_University) 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](/source/Wake_Forest_University_School_of_Law) examined the legal hurdles.<ref name="auto1" />

In 2017 Urban Death Project's [Western Carolina University](/source/Western_Carolina_University) [Forensic Anthropology](/source/Forensic_anthropology) partnership was featured in [Caitlin Doughty](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Seattle). The original plan for a 18,500-square-foot facility, designed by architecture firm [Olson Kundig](/source/Olson_Kundig_Architects), 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](/source/Kent%2C_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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Recompose](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recompose) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recompose?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.