The Urban Death Project aims to celebrate the circle of life by turning dead people into compost so they can give their bodies back to the earth. This new kind of ceremony hopes to make funerals a more eco-conscious affair and respect life of all kinds.
While cities in metropolitan areas become increasingly full, and materials like wood, steel, formaldehyde and concrete are being put into the ground in accordance with conventional burial practices, the Urban Death Project hopes to provide a city-specific solution.
No embalming takes place, and instead corpses are refrigerated before being placed in a composting core. Wood chips and sawdust covers the deceased before the month-long process begins. Afterwards the family can collect the compost to be re-used as soil for their homes or community.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Eco-friendly Funerals
- Opportunity for funeral homes to offer composting services as a more sustainable alternative to traditional burials.
- Circular Economy in Deathcare
- Opportunity for businesses to capitalize on the trend of closing the materials loop by repurposing human remains into compost.
- Urban and Space-saving Burials
- Opportunity to address the space limitations and environmental impact of traditional urban burials through composting alternatives.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Funeral Homes
- Funeral homes can incorporate composting services to meet the growing demand for eco-friendly funeral practices.
- Waste Management
- Waste management companies can explore opportunities to incorporate human remains into their composting operations to create a closed-loop system.
- Urban Planning
- Urban planners can consider composting alternatives for burials to address space limitations and create more sustainable deathcare systems in cities.
