Washington state lawmakers just approved human corpse composting

“Dust to dust” just became a much more literal proposition in Washington state, where the legislature approved human composting on May 21. Bill 5001, “concerning human remains,” is now on the governor’s desk, awaiting a signature after passage in the house and senate. This makes Washington the first US state legislature to approve human composting as an alternative “burial” option in a process called “recomposition” (which sounds more heartening than “decomposition” and emphasizes the environmental friendliness of this method).