NSW passes ‘human compost’ laws

Several New South Wales MPs say they want their own bodies turned into “human compost” after Australian-first laws allowing the unusual practice were passed on Wednesday to provide a third legal option other than burial and cremation for the treatment of bodies.

The private member’s bill was introduced by independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, who travelled to Germany and the US to research the practice, which is allowed in some parts of both countries.

The practice, known as natural organic reduction, termination or human composting, involves placing the body in a temperature-controlled vessel with organic matter such as alfalfa, straw or mulch. Once inside, the vessel is turned or rocked to circulate air. The introduced matter reacts with the air and feeds the body’s naturally occurring microbes to rapidly decompose the body. The process creates heat that, after about 30 days, transforms the body into soil. When rested for about 30 days more, the vessel contains about 110kg of “dry, rich soil that is fertile and free of pathogens”, Greenwich told the legislative assembly earlier this year.

In the legislative council on Wednesday, John Ruddick, a Libertarian MP, said he backed what Greens MP Dr Amanda Cohn said in supporting the bill: he thought it was likely he would choose this burial method over a burial plot or cremation.

Liberal MP Susan Carter urged the government to consider when it implemented the bill how to ensure the dead were respected. Emma Hurst MP, the Animal Justice MP who introduced the bill into the legislative council, told parliament on Wednesday that terramation had significant environmental benefits, explaining that it avoids the need for large burial plots and can be wholly carbon neutral, compared with cremation, which she said was energy intensive and released substantial greenhouse gas emissions.