The Urban Death
Project is the brainchild of Seattle architect Katrina Spade, who came up with
the concept in 2011. Spade calls composting a meaningful, sanitary and
ecological alternative to burial and cremation. But the project has significant legal and
regulatory hurdles to surmount before it can get under way.
The project would
need to obtain a license to operate a funeral home, tackle local zoning restrictions,
which require composting facilities to be outside populated areas. But before
those issues can be addressed, the group and its proponents would have to push
through a change to state law, which requires that all human remains be buried,
cremated, donated to science or transferred out of state. At a minimum there
would need to be a change in state law.
Bodies would be
refrigerated on site for up to 10 days. No embalming would be necessary, since
decomposition is the goal. After a ceremony - religious or not - friends and
family would help insert the body into the core. Over several weeks a body
would turn into about one cubic yard of compost, enough to plant a tree or a
patch of flowers. The compost could be taken by the family or left for use or
donation by the Urban Death Project.
But would people
want this option? Does the prospect of feeding an apple tree in
post-life appeals to you? Would you eat the apples after? And why not ?
