In January this year, New York became the sixth American state to legalise human composting as a sustainable alternative to burial or cremation. Known as Natural Organic Reduction (NOR), bodies are laid in a mixture of organic material such as straw and sawdust and the microbes already in the body do the rest. The process takes between 45–60 days and the family of the deceased is given the resulting soil to do with what they please. While it’s currently not a legal practice in Australia, Micah Truman, who’s the CEO of American NOR facility Return Home, told ABC Radio National’s Breakfast program he ‘just hosted a man from Australia at our facility two days ago, who is super keen to do it in Australia.’ Stay tuned!
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