<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">A person can now have their body turned into soil after their death - which is seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to a burial or cremation.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also known as "natural organic reduction", the practice sees a body decompose over several weeks after being shut in a container.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2019, Washington was the first US state to legalise it. Colorado, Oregon, Vermont and California followed suit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">New York is therefore the sixth American jurisdiction to allow human composting, following Saturday's stamp of approval from Kathy Hochul, the state's Democratic governor</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The process happens in special above-ground facilities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A body is put in a closed vessel along with selected materials such as woodchips, alfalfa and straw grass, and gradually breaks down under the action of microbes.</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">New York approves composting of human bodies</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After a period of around a month - and a heating process to kill off any contagion - loved ones are given the resulting soil. This can be used in planting flowers, vegetables or trees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One US firm, Recompose, has said its service can save a tonne of carbon compared with a cremation or a traditional burial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Emissions of carbon dioxide are a major contributor to climate change, because they act to trap the Earth's heat in a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Traditional burials involving a coffin also consume wood, land and other natural resources.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Proponents of human composting say it is not only a more environmental option, but also a more practical one in cities where land for cemeteries is limited.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">New York's approval of the process was "a huge step for accessible green death care nationwide", one Washington-based provider, Return Home, told the New York Post.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But, for some, there are ethical questions about what happens to the soil which results from the composting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Catholic bishops in New York state reportedly opposed the legislation, arguing that human bodies should not be treated like "household waste".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Concerns have also been raised about the cost of composting. But the firm Recompose - whose facility in Seattle is one of the world's first - says its $7,000 (£5,786) fee is "comparable" with rival options.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The median sum in the US for a funeral with a burial was $7,848 in 2021, or $6,971 for a funeral with a cremation, according to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Human composting is already legal throughout Sweden. And natural burials - in which a body is buried without a coffin or with a biodegradable coffin - are permitted in the UK. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>