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<\/p>\nWhen it is Teresa Russell’s time to go, she wants to be turned into human compost.<\/p>\n
Ms Russell has spent the past two years advocating for “terramation”, a process where a body is placed into a vessel with organic matter and broken down into soil.<\/p>\n
The practice is currently only legal in Germany and 14 US states, which is why Ms Russell established the non-profit Earthly Legacy to bring the method to Australia.<\/p>\n
“One of the things that we have to do is we have to break down the taboo that exists in our society about dying,” she said.<\/p>\n
Teresa Russell has spent that past two years advocating for human composting ahead of new legislation proposed in NSW.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Ms Russell said she wanted to offer a sustainable, greener alternative to burials and cremations, but the core of her mission was to provide a cheaper and equitable option over time.<\/p>\n
“We need to spread composting across all levels of society, and in fact help the poorest have a dignified, lovely, gentle, natural disposal of their bodies just as the wealthy can afford,” she said.<\/p>\n
To make her dream a reality, Ms Russell enlisted the help of Sydney MP Alex Greenwich.<\/p>\n
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Alex Greenwich (second from right) visited facilities in Seattle ahead of introducing his bill. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Mr Greenwich was expected to introduce a private member’s bill on Thursday to pave the way for human composting, legally known as natural organic reduction, to be allowed in New South Wales.<\/p>\n
“We are running out of burial space [and] that space can cost as much as $50,000,” Mr Greenwich said.<\/p>\n
“We also know that cremation, can increasingly become expensive, with the upselling of coffins.”<\/p>\n
The cost of a funeral can range from $8,000 to around $20,000 depending on the type of services chosen, according to the government website Moneysmart.<\/p>\n
This sum can cover prices related to a coffin, burial or cremation fees as well as a cemetery plot.<\/p>\n
Ahead of introducing the legislation, Mr Greenwich toured facilities Return Home and Recompose in Seattle, where human composting is legal.<\/p>\n
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A shroud, or burial garment, covered in flowers in the human composting process at Return Home. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
He said if the bill was passed, sites could include a mixture of urban, semi-urban and rural and regional areas.<\/p>\n
Mr Greenwich said the eco-friendly burial method could become available as soon as 2027, and while pricing was yet to be determined he anticipated it would become “cheaper than cremation”.<\/p>\n
“The environmental impacts of human body composting are minimal,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We become about a cubic metre of really high-quality topsoil that can be used to regenerate land, that can be used in a person’s garden where you can plant a tree to \u2026 honour a loved one.”<\/p>\n
Premier Chris Minns on Sunday said he “felt a bit weird about it” and he was going to “kick the tyres” on the proposed legislation.<\/p>\n
‘Enough for a small garden’![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f7797dcfae5661e19de0456abfd42c72.jpeg\")
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Katrina Spade says a person can be composted into 1 cubic metre of soil. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Katrina Spade has been operating Recompose since 2020, about a year after Washington State legalised natural organic reduction.<\/p>\n
While methods for human composting vary, Ms Spade said at her Seattle facility that composting a body took eight weeks and occurred in two phases.<\/p>\n
During the first stage the body is placed inside a vessel filled with wood chips, hay and sawdust.<\/p>\n
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A vessel where human remains are composted at a Recompose facility. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Microbes that remain in the body after death help speed up the decomposition process.<\/p>\n
“Then the mid-phase is where we screen for bone and non-organics, like a titanium hip,” Ms Spade said.<\/p>\n
“The reduced bone and the soil that is what remains, and are recombined together for a curing phase of about one month.”<\/p>\n
The final result is 1 cubic metre of nutrient-rich soil, which is enough for a small garden, Ms Spade said.<\/p>\n
“About half of our families choose to take everything home and the rest typically take a bag or two and donate the rest to land conservation organisations,” she said.<\/p>\n
Creating social change<\/p>\n
Tui Davidson from Earthly Remains in the ACT said Australia had a “very locked market” of mostly burial and cremation, with slight movement on eco-friendly options like shrouded cremation and natural burials.<\/p>\n
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Tui Davidson is also an advocate for terramation, otherwise known as human composting or natural organic reduction. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
She said she was “super excited” to hear about Mr Greenwich’s bill after spending years pushing for the practice to be introduced.<\/p>\n
“If I talk to 10 people and three of them talk to others, then the word is slowly getting out there and that’s what creates social change,” she said.<\/p>\n