The Greenhouse Opens in Kent, Washington

Seattle, Washington (January, 2021) – Recompose’s first location, the Greenhouse, opened in December 2020 in Kent, Washington. While we can’t offer tours at this time due to COVID, the Greenhouse was featured in the Seattle Times in January 2021 and we’re proud to share photos and information about the space.

The Greenhouse contains ten Recompose vessels. These vessels are where the transformation from human to soil occurs. Each vessel is a steel cylinder, 8 feet long and 4 feet tall. The vessel rests inside of a hexagonal frame. When we designed the Recompose vessel, we thought a lot about durability, functionality, and also, a pleasing design.

The Greenhouse’s vessel array, which contains 10 vessels. Inside a vessel, a body transforms into soil in 30 days.

During a laying-in, we place the plant-covered cradle into a Recompose vessel and close the door.

Services manager Morgan Yarborough organizes the body prep area. The Recompose Greenhouse is also a licensed funeral home.

All ten vessels together are called a vessel array. The vessels are constantly monitored by our technical interface and our staff. Both the vessels and the building contain sophisticated filtration systems that manage airflow and prevent odor.

Recompose calls the practice of placing a body into a vessel the laying in. We invite families to join us for the laying-in via streaming video if they choose. At future locations, we hope to be able to have families join for their person’s laying-in in person.

We gave our first location its name because a greenhouse is where seeds germinate and where plants get their start. At the Recompose Greenhouse, we are learning more about how best to carry out human composting before propagating our systems to other locations and, eventually, around the world.

Please note the Greenhouse is not open to the public. If you are a transferring funeral home that needs the address, please get in touch.