The Science

Composting human bodies is a safe, natural and sustainable way to return our bodies to the land, preventing up to one tonne of carbon emissions and creating around one cubic metre of compost/soil per composted adult. 

‘It’s not rocket science. It’s agricultural science - enhanced,’ says Teresa Russell, Founder of Earthly Legacy. ‘But in-vessel composting of human bodies is both an art and a science, as the environment must be tailored, optimised and closely monitored to support and enhance the natural composting process. We are aiming to complete the process within about 60 days, depending on a number of factors relating to the person’s size, age and condition when they died.   

Our goal is to respectfully transform the people placed in our care into safe, stable, high quality compost that families can 

• receive back some/all for memorialisation purposes or 

• donate some/all of their person’s compost to our non-profit soil partners who will use it to regenerate degraded land.

For an independent description of human composting, please see this Wikipedia article. Or check out this excellent Australian reference page on the Earthly Remains website.