The world’s first funeral home dedicated to composting human beings is set to open in 2021 – allowing those left behind to turn their dearly departed into the soil. ‘Deathcare’ company Recompose has spent the last two years working to bring the concept of human corpse composting, known as natural organic reduction, to the public, marketing it as a gentle and natural alternative to cremation and traditional burial with a significantly smaller carbon footprint. The plan is finally coming to fruition as design firm Oslon Kundig has released digital renderings of what Recompose’s first facility will look like when it opens in less than two years’ time. Recompose, which is scheduled to begin operations in Seattle, Washington in 2021, bills itself as the world’s first human composting facility, offering to gently convert human remains into the soil, in a process it calls “recomposition” or “natural organic reduction”. Human composting is believed to be significantly more environmentally friendly than traditional methods of burial or cremation. Recompose’s patent-pending method involves placing bodies in one of the moisture- and temperature-controlled vessels filled with wood chips, alfalfa, and straw. In just 30 days of microbial activity, the body breaks down into the soil. Recompose’s human composting consumes just one-eighth of the energy required for cremation. The human composting process generates around a cubic yard of soil from the human body. Mourners can choose to keep the resulting soil or Recompose can use it to help reforest land in southern Washington.