Arizona ‘Grandpa in the Garden’ bill seeks to legalize human composting: ‘Just creating the option’
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By Alex Oliveira
An Arizona law may soon give residents a unique way to extend their stay on Earth — by being transformed into soil to fertilize plants through a process of human composting.
House Bill 2081, which has been dubbed the “Grandpa in the Garden Bill,” seeks to legalize human composting and allow Arizonans to turn themselves into dirt after death.
The fertile soil derived from human remains would then be free to be used for bedding and growing plants, or scattered in nature as many already do with cremated ashes.
“I’m just trying to make it an option in Arizona,” said the bill’s proposer, Rep. Laurin Hendrix. “It’s been done for quite some time; it just hasn’t been legal in Arizona.”
“I’m not really advocating for it or against it, I’m just creating the option,” Hendrix told 12NEWS.
Human composting is undertaken by specialized companies which tout the process as a sustainable burial option that allows the deceased to live on in nature.
Bodies are placed in containers filled with microbe-rich natural refuse like mulch, woodchips, and wildflowers, where they remain for about 45 days while breaking down into soil.
Most bodies yield about one cubic yard of soil — three feet long by three feet high by three feet wide — according to the human composting company, Earth.
The process is considerably cheaper than a standard funeral and slightly more than the cost of a cremation.
Currently, human composting is already legal in seven states across the country, including California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Oregon, and Washington.
Hendrix expects the bill to pass unanimously, telling 12NEWS he’s heard no opposition and that most people come around to the idea after a few moments of thought.
The representative didn’t get to all constituents, however.
“It just doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t feel right,” resident Trayton Nepfumbada told 3TV.
“I wouldn’t want to go into the backyard and say, ‘Look at grandpa, he just made a bunch of tomatoes for us,’” he said.
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