Death Care
Do you need immediate assistance? Call us 24 hours a day at (206) 800-8733.
Our Services
We Can Help
We work closely with you and your people to ensure respectful, empathetic service from the time of death through the body’s transformation into soil. We are here for you. Whether a death has already occurred or is imminent, please contact us anytime at (206) 800-8733 or email us at [email protected].
At the Time of Death
After a death has occurred, take the time you need with your loved one’s body. When you are ready, our staff will help you understand your options, answer questions and, at your convenience, take your person’s body into our care.
Our Process
Laying-In Ceremony
We offer a laying-in ceremony, or a green funeral, that allows you the opportunity to honor your loved one with care and respect. Much like the moment when a body is interred into the earth during a burial, the laying-in represents a moment of transition. Our experienced Services team can help you plan your person’s laying-in every step of the way.
Soil Transformation
Your loved one’s body will be surrounded by wood chips, alfalfa, and straw in a vessel where microbes will naturally break the body down. The entire process, from placing your person into the vessel to finished soil, takes about eight to twelve weeks.
Giving Back
Once complete, similar to ashes from a cremation, the soil can be used however you choose—to enrich a garden, plant a tree, or spread across multiple locations. If you prefer not to keep all, or any, of the soil, we will donate it to Bells Mountain, 700 acres of conserved land in southern Washington.
Pricing
Our Price: $7,000
This price includes:
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We offer hands-on support throughout the death care journey. Our licensed funeral directors have decades of experience providing compassionate care and creating meaningful experiences.
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Transportation of the body within King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties to Recompose is included in our price.
Transport costs within Washington State
Costs for Washington counties are based on proximity to Recompose. Current pricing for Washington State is listed by county in our transportation pricing list.Transport costs outside Washington State
Transport costs vary by funeral home and region. For example, transport from Portland, OR to Seattle costs $850, whereas California to Seattle starts at about $3,000. Most customers that come to us from another state work with a funeral home in their area to arrange for transport. This funeral home will pick up a body at the place of death and arrange for transport to Recompose.For a lower cost option, friends and family may transport the body themselves.
Our Services team is here to help. Please contact us at (206) 800-8733 or [email protected] to discuss transport options and receive support in arranging transportation.
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The death certificate is a mandatory legal document that registers each death with the appropriate local authorities. Recompose’s funeral directors will handle the filing of the death certificate for you.
If you need a certified copy of the death certificate for a bank or insurance claim, our staff can help you order as many as you need. In most cases, we can assist you in ordering copies from your local vital records office and have them mailed directly to you. Fees for each death certificate vary by county. For example, as of January 2021, King County charges $25 each.
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You may choose to have an obituary published on our website and include multiple pictures in a photo gallery. The obituary can include links for guests to make a donation in honor of your loved one. Our staff is available to guide you in writing your tribute.
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The process begins when our staff lay your loved one’s body into a Recompose vessel surrounded by wood chips, alfalfa, and straw. The body is covered with more plant material. The body and plant material remain in the vessel for four to seven weeks. Microbes break everything down on the molecular level, resulting in the formation of a nutrient‑dense soil. Each body creates about one cubic yard of soil amendment, which is removed from the vessel and allowed to cure for two to six weeks.
Our staff will communicate with you at pivotal moments throughout your person’s transformation into soil. We will keep you updated on when the soil has finished key stages of the process, and work with you to schedule pickup or shipment of finished soil once the process is complete.
Once complete, this nutrient-rich soil can be used to enrich garden beds, planted with a tree, divided across multiple locations, or however you please.
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Each body that completes the Recompose process creates one cubic yard of nutrient-rich compost. The soil will be ready about eight to twelve weeks after your loved one is placed into a vessel.
You will receive one 64-oz container of your loved one’s soil at the end of transformation. You may purchase additional soil containers that can be picked up at Recompose or shipped within the continental United States.
The full cubic yard of soil fills a pickup truck bed or small trailer. You have the option to keep or donate the rest of your loved one’s soil, or a combination of both.
- Donate your loved one’s soil
You have the option to donate your loved one’s soil to Bells Mountain, 700 acres of permanently protected land in southern Washington. This natural wilderness is managed by our conservation partner, Remember Land, a land trust and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our staff facilitates the delivery and meaningful use of the soil with gratitude and respect.Recompose is the only green funeral home that offers the opportunity for your soil to contribute to ecological repair efforts after death. The soil donated by Recompose customers supports the continued revitalization of wetlands, riparian habitats, native plants, and vulnerable wildlife species.
- Pick up the soil at Recompose
We are happy to facilitate pickup of the entire volume of soil. Soil can be used on decorative trees and plants, and can be placed anywhere you have permission of the landowner.Our staff can arrange a time for you to come to our location with a truck or trailer. We strive to ensure every soil pickup is a beautiful and meaningful experience. Customers have shared that picking up this soil made them feel moved, at peace, and like they were taking their person home.
- Donate your loved one’s soil
Additional Options
The following options can be added for an additional cost.
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The laying-in ceremony is similar to a graveside service or a funeral and allows you the opportunity to honor your loved one with care and respect. It offers friends and family members an opportunity to participate in sending their person on to the next stage of transformation.
Ceremonies take place virtually or in the Gathering Space, a small room designed for an intimate experience. The ceremony can accommodate up to 15 guests and includes the use of the Gathering Space, the Moss room—for those who need a private space during the ceremony, the Pebble room, a kitchenette where light refreshments can be served, and support from Recompose.
Our Services team will help coordinate a ceremony for online or in-person guests to be in community together.
- Capacity: 15 people in person or 1,000 for live stream on Zoom
- Scheduling: Weekdays at 10am or 2pm
- Duration: 1 hour
- Price: $350 for first hour, limited additional hours may be available for $100/hour
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Recompose encourages community-led death care. To facilitate this, we offer the use of our Cedar Room, a private space for those who wish to perform hands-on care for their person. For example, in the Cedar Room you can:
- Fulfill religious/spiritual needs for ritual bathing
- Have a time of prayer, song or vigil over your person
- Shroud your person
- Anoint your person
- Have a religious or community leader perform rites
- Style your person’s hair, paint their nails or apply their makeup
The use of this room includes one of our licensed Services Specialists who can help you perform this care or wait nearby if you prefer privacy.
Recompose provides a limited range of tools such as towels, shampoos and soaps, essential oils, camphor, a stereo system, hair brushes and linens. Clients will need to provide items such as cosmetics, perfumes, custom shrouds, or other special items they wish to incorporate.
Please note that special items you place with your person (including clothing and shrouds) will be removed before they enter their vessel.
- Capacity: 5 people
- Availability: Weekdays, by appointment
- Duration: 1 hour
- Price: $350 for first hour, limited additional hours may be available for $100/hour
Recompose Community Fund
Recompose is committed to bringing ecological death care to as many people as possible. This includes providing our human composting services at a subsidized rate to individuals who could not otherwise afford to pay our full price. Recompose considers applications for Community Fund support either when a person is near death or at the time of death.
Obituaries
FAQ
Planning
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Human composting is powered by beneficial microbes that occur naturally on our bodies and in the environment.
The process begins when our staff lay your loved one’s body in a cradle surrounded by a mixture of plant materials—wood chips, alfalfa, and straw—carefully calibrated and tailored to each body. The cradle is placed into a Recompose vessel and covered with more plant material. The body and plant material remain in the vessel for five to seven weeks. Each body creates about one cubic yard of soil amendment, which is removed from the vessel and allowed to cure for three to five weeks.
Once complete, the soil can be used to enrich conservation land, forests, or gardens. The pH range of Recompose compost is usually between 6.5 and 7, which is ideal for most plants. The soil created returns the nutrients from our bodies to the natural world. It restores forests, sequesters carbon, and nourishes new life.
Recompose follows all compost-testing regulations put forth by the Washington State Department of Licensing and the Board of Health.
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The soil created by human composting can be scattered or buried at the location of your choice. In Washington State, you must have the permission of the landowner. Families who choose Recompose have used soil to plant groves of trees or to nourish flower gardens tended by their loved one when they were alive. After the human composting process is complete, families can take home some or all of the entire one cubic yard of soil created (about the volume of a pickup truck bed).
Families also have the option to donate soil to Recompose’s conservation partner, Remember Land, where the soil will be used for restoration efforts at the Bells Mountain forest. In order to preserve the undeveloped integrity of the forest, Bells Mountain does not allow grave markers at this time.
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Yes. We offer both virtual tours and in-person guided, small group tours led by Recompose staff. Learn more and sign up for a tour.
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Yes, we offer human composting services regardless of where you live in the United States. Most customers that come to us from another state work with a funeral home in their area to arrange for transport. This funeral home will pick up a body at the place of death and arrange for transport to Recompose.
When you contact a funeral home, we suggest starting the conversation by saying something like, “I am looking to have my loved one’s body transported to the Seattle area. I have chosen a funeral home called Recompose to handle their death care services. Can you help me make arrangements?” Families can also transport their person to Recompose in their personal vehicle with the correct permits. If you are interested in this option, please contact us for guidance.
Our Services team is here to support you and can discuss options, find a transporting funeral home, and help arrange for transport. Please contact our staff at (206) 800-8733 or [email protected]
Please note: Bodies that come to Recompose must not be embalmed. While most funeral homes are experienced with transporting bodies, they may not yet have heard of human composting or have experience with this kind of transport.
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While every body is different, the entire Recompose process typically takes about eight to twelve weeks. Our staff will communicate with families throughout the process and will be in touch when the soil is ready.
Pricing
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Recompose strives to keep the price for human composting comparable to other death care options.
According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the median cost of a funeral with cremation in 2021 in the United States was $6,971, and the median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial was $7,848. It is important to note that the median burial cost does not include a plot, headstone, or any other cemetery costs associated with a burial. Those costs can often double the cost of a traditional burial. It is also important to note that you can often find a more economical rate for a direct cremation. The best thing to do is ask.
We are committed to bringing ecological death care to as many people as possible. This includes providing our services at a subsidized rate to individuals who could not otherwise afford to pay our full price of $7,000. Learn more about the Recompose Community Fund.
Learn what services are included in the cost of human composting here. Find a list of current pricing for all Recompose services in our General Price List.
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Recompose’s price for human composting does not include a ceremony, flowers, newspaper obituaries, transportation of the body from outside of King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, or additional transport for autopsies.
You can see a full list of additional items we offer in our General Price List. The GPL is a document the Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to have available in the interest of protecting consumers.
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Our staff can help you order certified copies of the death certificate via your county’s vital records office at no additional charge. Fees for death certificates vary by county. For example, as of January 2021, King County charges $25 each.
