Colorado set to legalise human compost

Each body creates hundreds of pounds of soil after 30-day environmentally friendly process

Colorado is set to legalise human composting to allow people to turn their bodies into soil after their death.

A bill, which has already passed one legislative chamber in the state, would allow people to op for the “natural reduction” burying method.

That involves a body being placed in a “cradle” then into a vessel over a bed of wood chips, alfalfa and straw, reports the Denver Post.

The body then stays in a greenhouse-like facility for 30 days as it transforms into soil, but non-organic materials such as artificial hips are removed.

Each body in the end creates several hundred pounds, or one cubic yard, of soil when the process is complete.

Experts say the process is more environmentally friendly than conventional burial or cremation, and uses one-eighth of the energy.

If the bill passes, Colorado would become only the second state in the nation after Washington state to make it legal.

“It’s an innovative idea in a state that prides itself on natural beauty and opportunities,” said state Democratic Senator Robert Rodriguez of Denver, who is sponsoring the bill.

In Colorado the soil would not be allowed to be used to grow food for human consumption.

It also prohibits the soil being sold or for the soil of multiple people to be mixed without consent.