As Seen in The Washington Post: Human composting turns bodies to soil — and the trend is growing

The Washington Post ventures inside Earth Funeral's newly opened Maryland facility to explore how human composting is quietly becoming one of the funeral industry's fastest-growing alternatives to burial and cremation.

Washington Post reporter Dana Hedgpeth chronicles the May 2026 opening of Earth Funeral's 37,000-square-foot Elkridge facility, the company's third nationwide, taking readers inside a process that is quietly becoming one of the funeral industry's fastest-growing alternatives to burial and cremation.

The piece traces the full arc of soil transformation: a body wrapped in a biodegradable shroud is placed alongside organic mulch, wood chips, and wildflowers inside a sealed stainless-steel vessel, where controlled temperature, moisture, and oxygen levels allow microbes to break everything down over 30 to 45 days. The result is 200 to 250 pounds of nutrient-rich soil that families can plant, pot, or share. 

Earth Funeral CEO Tom Harries frames the process in plain, grounded terms. "It's taking something functional and making something beautiful," he told the Post. "It returns you to nature." 

Harries describes the science as an acceleration of what already happens on a forest floor, one in which microbes do the work nature always intended, just on a timeline families can plan around. The facility's large composting room can hold up to 126 vessels at once, and a separate room allows families to gather for a final goodbye before the process begins.

The article introduces two families who have already made arrangements. Dave Buermeyer, 84, a retired Air Force colonel living in Reston, Virginia, signed himself and his wife up after attending an Earth Funeral webinar. "It was a simple, honest and natural way" to handle death, he said, adding that he hopes his remains might one day be spread in a designated green area at Arlington National Cemetery. 

Hal Perez and Tammi Stauffer, a Baltimore couple who previously planned on cremation, switched after seeing an Earth Funeral ad and attending a webinar. Stauffer, a photographer and avid gardener, put it simply: "Polluting the environment is not part of that." 

Both couples represent what the Post identifies as a broader cultural shift, with 61 percent of Americans now expressing interest in natural organic reduction and greener end-of-life options.

The coverage also situates Earth Funeral within the legal landscape for human composting, noting that the practice is now legal in 14 states following Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's signing of the Green Death Care Options Act in May 2024. 

The opening of the Elkridge facility meaningfully reduces transport distances for families across the East Coast region, making soil transformation more accessible and more affordable for families than ever before.