What to Do With a Person or Pet's Ashes?

One of the things my partner and I have talked about is what to do with our ashes after we're gone. Of course, we plan to have them mixed with the ashes of our dogs and spread out somewhere. On January 31, 2019, an article in BBC News highlighted how Washington State is moving to legalize using ashes for compost. It makes sense, really. The Earth is running out of cemeteries and why not contribute your remains to help grow plant life? Think about how many tombstones sit in older cemeteries that no one knows. Granted, that some religions mandate burial, but if you can look past religion (we're all going to be energy as a spirit -or an earth-bound ghost if you prefer - although you shouldn't), you can do something after your time to help promote other living things!
   There's a company in the U.S. already that inserts ashes in a "bio urn." The company, called "Living Urn" said a tree urn is a biodegradable urn or bio urn that grows a tree in combination with ashes or cremated remains. The Living Urn tree urn and the urn itself is made from 100% biodegradable materials that are all natural and it will grow a living memorial tree. The Living Urn offers a special Bio Urn for People and a different Bio Urn for pets. You can learn more about them here: https://www.thelivingurn.com/ 

Meanwhile here's the BBC article...

How do you compost a human body - and why would you?
BBC NEWS 1-31-19

This is the vision - in an indoor garden, a honeycomb structure lines the walls, and inside each cell, a human body composts. When it's done, loved ones take home a pot of soil, not an urn of ash.

A person's final resting place could be the foundations of a flowerbed or could feed the roots of a tree.

This is what Washington state is preparing to legalise. If the bill passes, the western state would be the first in the nation to allow human composting as a burial option.

Here's what it means to choose a compost burial - and why a growing group of Americans are eschewing convention for a new way to rest in peace.

The driving force behind the movement in Washington state is Katrina Spade and her company, Recompose.

It says it can turn you into useable, fertile, soil in 30 days.

"It's just an accelerated process of natural decomposition," says Nora Menkin, executive director of People's Memorial, a non-profit funerary services advocacy group in Seattle, Washington.

The method Recompose offers is based on the ways we already compost livestock - with a few changes from Washington State University soil science researcher Prof Lynne Carpenter-Boggs to make the mixture more socially acceptable.

Based on research from Prof Carpenter-Boggs' team, the final process involves placing the body in a mix of wood chips and similar composting materials, allowing thermophilic - heat-loving - microbes and bacteria to get to work.

Remains are also heated to 131 F (55 C), killing off contagions so the resulting soil is safe to use - a key part of why many supporters prefer this manner of burial.

"We have all this energy and potential that's either burned up or sealed away in burials, when it could be utilized to let life go on," Ms Menkin says.

Here's the Full Article (that goes into how a corpse would decompose if buried, and it's icky): https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47031816