Death Care

Do you need immediate assistance? Call us 24 hours a day at (206) 800-8733.

white flowers, green leaves and tree bark

Our Process

Recompose is a licensed, full-service funeral home offering human composting to transform your loved one's body into soil.
white flowers, green leaves and tree bark

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.

Whether a death has already occurred or is imminent, please contact us anytime at (206) 800-8733 or email us at services@recompose.life.

Exceptional Support and Guidance

Our Services team provides personalized support throughout the eight to twelve weeks your person is in our care. With decades of combined experience, they are knowledgeable and responsive, and keep you informed so you know what to expect each step of the way.

Our Services

From the ceremony to celebrate your person to using your loved one's soil to nurture growth, we aim to make death care healing and nourishing.
mossy tree bark

Custom Ceremonies

Recompose offers two thoughtfully curated spaces, the Gathering Space and Cedar, if you want to have a ceremony, service, or private experience before or after your loved one’s transformation into soil. Our Services Specialists are licensed funeral directors who help with event planning, ensure the event runs smoothly, and can lead your ceremony if desired. Note: ceremonies are not included in the price of Recompose.

Soil Transformation

At the time of laying in, our staff places the body into a composting vessel surrounded by a mixture of wood chips, alfalfa, and straw carefully calibrated for each individual. Much like the moment when a body is interred into the earth during a burial, the laying in represents a moment of transition. The vessel is closed and the transformation into soil begins. The process will be tailored to your person and managed by the leading experts in human composting.

Giving Back

Eight to twelve weeks later, your person will become a nutrient-rich soil ready to nourish the land and give back to the earth. Similar to ashes from cremation, the soil can be used however you choose—to enrich a garden, plant a tree, or spread across multiple locations. Through the Recompose Land Program, you have the opportunity to donate as much soil as you’d like to help restore and revitalize land stewarded by nonprofit conservation organizations.

Our Pricing

Recompose operates with integrity and clarity so you are informed and know what to expect. We will never try to upsell you.

Our $7,000 Price Includes the following services

Our Services team is knowledgeable and responsive throughout the eight to twelve weeks your person is in our care. Our licensed funeral directors have decades of experience providing personalized care and guidance.

Transportation of the body within King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties in Washington State 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 general price 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 clients 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.

Our Services team is here to help. Please contact us at (206) 800-8733 or services@recompose.life to discuss transport options and help with arranging transportation.

If needed, Recompose offers onsite cooled storage for up to four weeks.

The death certificate is a mandatory legal document that registers each death with the appropriate local authorities. Recompose’s Services Specialists will handle the filing of the death certificate.

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.

County Medical Examiners in both King and Clark County review all deaths in their respective counties. The fee for this review is $70 and is included as a part of the cost for our composting services.

Before a death certificate is certified, the District Attorney program reviews each cause of death identified on the death certificate to verify that the cause and manner (what the person died from) do not indicate the need for the medical examiner’s office to investigate further.

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.

The transformation into soil will be tailored to your person and managed by the leading experts in human composting.

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 and plant material remain in the vessel for five to seven weeks. After microbes break everything down on the molecular level, the soil amendment is removed from the vessel and allowed to cure for three to five weeks. The cutting-edge design of Recompose’s vessels, coupled with our highly-trained operators, ensures that the resulting soil is safe for use on plants and trees.

Our Services team 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 pick up or shipment of soil once the process is complete.

Eight to twelve weeks after your person is placed into the vessel, they will become a nutrient-rich soil ready to nourish the land and give back to the earth.

The amount of soil for each person varies. Typically about a cubic yard of soil is produced that weighs between 500 to 1,000 pounds.

You can choose how much soil to keep or donate to conservation efforts. If you choose to keep your person’s soil, it will be packaged and ready for pickup or delivery in durable, double-walled paper bags.

Note: while soil pickup from Recompose is included in the human composting price, the shipping of soil is an additional cost.

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two human composting soil packages a large paper bag and a small container

Recompose offers two packaging options: a double-walled paper bag that holds about 12 gallons of soil and a specialty container that holds 5 cups of soil. Soil packaged in paper bags is included in the cost. Specialty containers are available for purchase.

CEREMONIAL SPACES

Recompose offers two thoughtfully curated spaces, the Gathering Space and Cedar, if you want to have a ceremony, service, or private experience before or after transformation into soil. Our Services Specialists are licensed funeral directors who help with event planning, ensure the event runs smoothly, and can lead your ceremony if desired.

Ceremonial Spaces are not included in our $7,000 price for human composting. Please see our Custom Ceremonies & Offerings Catalog or Price List for more information.

This beautiful, modern room is a welcoming space for friends and family to gather for ceremonies and small services. Floor-to-ceiling windows in shades of green and yellow and a large tapestry of the forest invite nature into this urban sanctuary. The room has a lectern for speakers and a screen for slideshows. At the center of the room is a white, hexagonal threshold vessel—a passageway to the Greenhouse, where human composting occurs.

We offer a variety of custom ceremonies and services, both in-person at Recompose and virtual for out-of-state clients. See our Custom Ceremonies & Offerings Catalog for more information.

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green funeral ceremony space in recompose seattle's gathering space
The Gathering Space

Cedar is a serene space uniquely designed for those who wish to have a private experience with their person before transformation into soil begins or to connect with their person’s soil after the process is complete. The space can be used for personal time, private viewings, and hands-on care, like bathing or shrouding.

See our Custom Ceremonies & Offerings Catalog for more information on in-person and virtual offerings.

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cedar room funeral ceremony space
A shrouded mannequin demonstrates how Cedar can be used

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 once a death has occurred. Funds are limited so please contact us for information on current availability at services@recompose.life.

Obituaries

Read below to learn about some of the people Recompose is honored to have transformed into soil.

FAQ

Learn more below about the Recompose approach and process.

Planning

Choosing our human composting services is possible in most places outside of Washington State. Most clients 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 services@recompose.life. Our article, Arranging for Transportation, also has information to help you.

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.

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.

See photos and learn more about our Seattle location.

Human composting is powered by beneficial microbes that occur naturally on our bodies and in the environment.

At the time of laying in, our Services Specialists place the body into a composting vessel surrounded by a mixture of wood chips, alfalfa, and straw carefully calibrated and specially tailored to each body. 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.

 

Recompose does not offer grave markers.

The soil created by human composting can be scattered, buried, or used in gardening. In Washington State, you must have the permission of the landowner. As a way of memorializing their loved one, Recompose clients have used soil to plant groves of trees or to nourish flower gardens tended by their loved one when they were alive. Others have chosen to donate their soil to our conservation partner to be used to nourish and revitalize the land.

While each individual body is different, the entire Recompose process typically takes about eight to twelve weeks. Our staff will communicate with families at key points throughout the process and will be in touch when the soil is ready.

Pricing

The average cost of conventional death care can vary widely depending on various factors such as the location, specific services chosen, and individual preferences.

Conventional Death Care

According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the median cost of a funeral with cremation in 2021 in the United States was $6,970, 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 additional expenses 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.

Our Approach

While human composting is innovative and new, Recompose aims to keep our costs comparable to other death care options. Our $7,000 price includes empathetic care and guidance from our Services team from the time of death through transformation into soil eight to twelve weeks later. Learn more about our services here and find a list of current pricing for all services in our General Price List.

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 through our Community Fund.

Recompose operates with integrity and clarity and will never try to upsell you. We strive to be straightforward about our pricing and services so you are informed and know what to expect.

Recompose’s price for human composting does not include a ceremony, flowers, newspaper obituaries, clergy honorariums, transportation of the body outside our service area, 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.

Our staff can help you order certified copies of the death certificate via your county’s vital records office. This service is included with our cost for human composting, but fees for death certificates vary by county. For example, as of January 2021, King County charges $25 each.

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About Recompose

Recompose is a licensed, full-service, green funeral home in Seattle offering human composting. As the first human composting company in the world, we are a trusted leader in ecological death care. We are Seattle’s only human composting provider and serve clients across the U.S.

Recompose Seattle
4 S. Idaho St, Seattle, WA 98134
Open by appointment

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Voted Best Funeral Home in Seattle Times’ Best in the PNW Contest 2023

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Land Acknowledgement
Recompose acknowledges we make our lives and livelihoods on the lands of the Coast Salish People, specifically the Duwamish People. We honor with gratitude the Duwamish People past and present, the land itself, and the Duwamish Tribe. Colonization is an active, persistent process. Indigenous communities continue to be resilient in protecting their ecological and cultural lifeways and deathways despite ongoing oppression. Recompose respects, shares, and supports this commitment to climate healing and environmental justice. Join Recompose in contributing to Real Rent Duwamish.