Human Composting Advocacy in New Hampshire
Take action to help legalize human composting
House Bill “1324-FN: relative to green burials and authorizing the natural organic reduction of human remains” is sponsored by Representatives LaMontagne (D), Schapiro (D), Darby (D), Lloyd (D), Vail (D), Knab (D), and Dunn (R).
Voice Your Support
Below is an email template you can use as a base to write your New Hampshire State legislators to express your support of human composting. We’ve learned it’s important to personalize your letter and add your own story about why you support this legislation. Not sure who to write or where to send your email? Find contact information for your state legislators here.
Email Template
Subject Line: Please Support 1324-FN
Dear [REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATOR],
I am writing to express my hope that you will support 1324-FN: Relative to Green Burials and Authorizing the Natural Organic Reduction of Human Remains. Natural organic reduction (also known as human composting) is now legal in quite a few states including Washington, Colorado, California, Vermont, New York, and more and I would appreciate this option being available to residents of New Hampshire, too.
[INSERT HERE WHY YOU PERSONALLY SUPPORT HUMAN COMPOSTING AND THIS LEGISLATION]
Thank you for your attention to this legislation.
[NAME]
[ADDRESS]
How does Human Composting Become Law?
In the U.S., the laws governing human remains vary greatly from state to state, as do the processes for passing new laws. Washington State was the first state that legalized human composting in 2019. The process took two years from the initial conversation with our representative until the law was passed, and another year until it took effect. The second state to legalize human composting, Colorado, passed the law in just under a year.
Because of the difference from state to state, we don’t have a template for how to pass human composting laws. However, we wrote an overview of what the process can look like to help you understand what it may take to pass legislation in your state.
About the Death Care Industry
Funeral practices like cremation and embalming have a profound impact on the environment.
Each year, about 3 million people die in the U.S. Cremation burns fossil fuels and emits carbon dioxide and particulates into the atmosphere. Conventional burial consumes valuable urban land, pollutes the soil, and contributes to climate change through the resource-intensive manufacture and transport of caskets, headstones, and grave liners. Every year in the U.S., caskets alone use four million acres of forest.
What we do with our bodies when we die matters. Human composting allows you to choose an option that supports new life after death. There is poetry in giving back to the ecosystem that has supported us our whole lives.
About Recompose
A decade ago, Katrina Spade recognized the need for a sustainable and scalable urban death care alternative. She spent years working with scientists and legal advisors designing the process to transform human bodies into soil. Since then, Katrina has helped write bills with state legislators, testify before committees, and ensure a safe process with regulators once a state legalizes human composting to help bring this ecological death care option to people everywhere.
In 2017, Katrina founded Recompose, a public benefit corporation based in Seattle and the world’s first human composting company. Recompose started accepting bodies for human composting in December 2020.
In 2022, we began sharing our facility with the public through tours in-person and online.