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The Science Of Composting Human Remains : Short Wave There aren't that many options for putting your loved ones to rest. There's burial. There's cremation. Now, later this year in Washington state, it'll be legal to compost a human body. Soil scientist Lynne Carpenter-Boggs tells us how the process works and why she describes it as "beautiful." Carpenter-Boggs is also a research advisor at Recompose, a human composting company in Washington. Follow host Maddie Sofia on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

Short Wave

Compost Your Loved Ones

Compost Your Loved Ones

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Katrina Spade is the founder and CEO of Recompose. Recompose aims to compost human bodies. Elaine Thompson/AP hide caption

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Elaine Thompson/AP

Katrina Spade is the founder and CEO of Recompose. Recompose aims to compost human bodies.

Elaine Thompson/AP

There aren't that many options for putting your loved ones to rest. There's burial. There's cremation. Now, later this year in Washington state, it'll be legal to compost a human body. Soil scientist Lynne Carpenter-Boggs tells us how the process works and why she describes it as "beautiful." Carpenter-Boggs is also a research advisor at Recompose, a human composting company in Washington.

Follow host Maddie Sofia on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

This episode was produced by Rebecca Ramirez and edited by Viet Le.