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Human Elements
Human Composting
Season 4
Episode 4
At Recompose, a Washington funeral home, Katrina Spade offers an alternative to traditional burial and cremation — human composting. Recompose uses wood chips, alfalfa and straw to break down the body into a material much like typical garden soil. The process takes 1/8 the energy output of conventional burial or cremation, and saves one metric ton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
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