Environmental pitfalls tend to abound when disposing of human remains. Did you know that cremating a human body requires the equivalent of about two full SUV tanks of fuel? As noted in this CBC article, the process also involves expelling hazardous emissions into the atmosphere, including carbon monoxide, mercury and cancer-inducing polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans.

For many, conventional burial is also not a particularly viable alternative – because graveyards are running out of space, the cost of burial plots has skyrocketed in recent years.

Given these circumstances, it’s not surprising that interest in human composting and other comparatively “green” methods of disposing of human remains is growing. Human composting, also referred to as natural organic reduction (NOR) and terramation, refers to an accelerated decomposition process that is used to turn the human body into nutrient-rich soil in approximately 30 to 60 days. While human composting is not yet legal in Canada, it was the focus of a flurry of media stories in 2024, after human composting was legalized in Delaware – see, for example, Global News (Is human composting the next frontier in death care?), the Toronto Star (Human composting as alternative to burial and cremation gets final approval by Delaware lawmakers), and The Trillium (Should Ontario approve human composting?). Human composting is often touted for being both a less expensive and environmentally friendly way to dispose of human remains.

In addition to Delaware, human composting has already been legalized in a number of other states, including Washington, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Vermont, California, Arizona, New York, and Nevada. In fact, Suzana first wrote about human composting on our firm blog in 2019, after Washington became the first state to allow human remains to be composted. This trend is also still on the rise in the United States. During the first two months of 2025 alone, legislation proposing to legalize human composting has been introduced in Texas, New Hampshire, and Utah, although it is not yet clear whether the proposed laws will be approved.

While law-makers in Canada have been slow to embrace human composting, it is the focus of a new sub-project that is currently being conducted by the UK Law Commission. Funerary methods are largely unregulated in England and Wales; as such, the Commission is looking into how new methods, including human composting and alkaline hydrolysis, ought to be regulated. Factors that the Commission is considering include the dignity of the dead, and environmental and public health concerns. Currently the sub-project, part of a larger project which also focuses on burial and cremation, is expected to be completed in the spring of 2026, at which point a report and a draft bill will be released. For more information, see the Law Commission’s webpage for the New Funerary Methods sub-project.

In a similar move, the Government of Ontario released a Consultation Paper regarding Regulating Alkaline Hydrolysis and Other Alternative Methods of Disposing of Human Remains in March of 2020, in response to bereavement service providers receiving requests for alternatives to traditional cemetery and crematorium services. However, it appears that nothing has come of the Paper since its release. Like the work of the UK Law Commission, the Consultation Paper addresses the possible regulation of both human composting and alkaline hydrolysis in Ontario. In terms of human composting, the government specifically sought feedback regarding the current demand for alternative methods of disposition, and whether there was support for establishing a separate regulatory framework for human composting under the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002.

Alkaline hydrolysis, the other funerary method addressed in the Consultation Paper and being explored by the Law Commission, is a water-based form of cremation that has been around since the late 1800s. Touted as an environmentally friendly process, alkaline hydrolysis only requires a fraction of the energy required for traditional fire cremation and there are no air emissions. This CBC article also explains that there is “no need for embalming chemicals or a casket,” although an alkaline solution is needed to break down the body of the deceased. To learn more about this process, see Natalia’s blog post, A More Sustainable Life … And Afterlife.

Unlike human composting, alkaline hydrolysis has been legal in Ontario since 2014, and is also legal in a number of other Canadian jurisdictions, including Saskatchewan, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Northwest Territories. The Ontario Consultation Paper raises the idea of imposing additional terms and conditions on crematoriums, such as ensuring that all hydrolysis chambers meet a minimum set of criteria, and expressly asks whether readers support establishing a separate regulatory framework specific to the alkaline hydrolysis process. Other issues explored in the Paper include whether alkaline hydrolysis at different temperatures (and pressures) should be permitted, potential occupational health and safety concerns related to the storage, use and disposal of caustic chemicals required for the process, operator qualifications, and educational requirements that should be imposed on alkaline hydrolysis operators.

As interest in environmentally friendly ways to dispose of human remains continues to grow, it seems inevitable that the law around human composting and alkaline hydrolysis will evolve in Canada, although it is currently unclear when such changes will come.

Thank you for reading, and have a great day!

Ian.