Governor Phil Murphy (D) signed a bill into law on September 11 legalizing “natural organic reduction,” better known as human composting.
The legislation “[a]llows for natural organic reduction and controlled supervised decomposition of human remains.”
The Garden State is now the 14th state to sanction the controlled decomposition of human bodies into soil.
Proponents of the bill justify the macabre practice because the state is “running out of space.”
“They explained it to me and I was like—OK, the most important takeaway is it gives everybody another dignified avenue to take of their loved one’s remains,” said Hudson County Assemblyman Julio Marenco, who championed the bill.
“In New Jersey, we are one of the biggest markets available to them. And also because we’re so densely populated, a state that is running out of space.”
Governor Murphy’s office said that “by establishing regulated and supervised processes, human remains composting provides New Jersey families a respective and environmentally conscious end-of-life option.”
Turning Bodies Into Dirt
The process is as eerie as it sounds: a human corpse placed in a steel vessel, covered with straw, wood chips, or alfalfa, and sealed inside while warm air circulates.
Over the next 45 to 60 days, the body decomposes into a pile of what promoters call “nutrient-rich soil.”
Families can then choose whether to scatter it like ashes, dump it in a garden, or use it to feed a houseplant.
This isn’t metaphor.
This is literally grinding down the human body until it’s indistinguishable from fertilizer.
Hellbound and Down 