As of July 1, 2025, Natural Organic Reduction, or Terramation as some call it, became a legal form of disposition in the state of Minnesota.  According to information that I believe reliable, Minnesota was the 11th state to pass legislation permitting such and the 13th state to activate the process.  The process of Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) or Terramation is labeled by many as “human composting”.

On the same day that NOR was legal in Minnesota, Washington state provider of such services Return Home issued this press release stating that they will be expanding to Minnesota.  Return Home, you can access their website here,  also announced that they will open a new facility in Minnesota for the process and also made this statement in their press release, “The expansion marks a significant step forward in Return Home’s mission to bring gentle, sustainable death care to communities across the country. With Minnesota’s progressive values, cultural richness, and long-standing environmental leadership, the state is a natural fit for terramation—a process that gently transforms human remains into soil.” 

Up until now and until a facility is built in Minnesota, Minnesotans who have wanted to have NOR/Terramation as their method of human disposition have had to work with local funeral homes and have their remains shipped to the state of Washington to implement the process.  One Minnesota funeral provider, Mueller Mortuary, has implemented a division for what they term “Green Burial Services and Options” which includes “Composting” as one of the options.

That division is called “Interra Green Burial by Mueller Mortuary” and their website can be accessed by clicking here.

Related Information —  Here is a recent notice from the Minnesota Funeral Director’s Association concerning the implementation of NOR as an alternative human disposition method.

Related Information —  Here is a video news story and print article from NBC Palm Springs (CA) about the Minnesota law and Return Home.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  According to the Cremation Association of North America, the cremation rate in Minnesota during the calendar year 2022 was 72.7% compared to a national average for that year of 59%.  According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the cremation rate in Minnesota in 1982 was 7.6% and in 1961 — 64 years ago — it was 1.8%.

I give you those statistics to show you how fast things can change.  I live in Minnesota and I was a practicing funeral director during the swift percentage run-up on cremation over the past 40 years.  Minnesotans are “open minded” and willing to try new things. . . . That may be one reason that Return Home decided to invest in their 2nd facility in the state.

As a funeral director, I can remember traditional casketed funeral families decision making processes on selecting cremation.  One of the factors in the process of going to a high percentage cremation rate was that once a family chose cremation as the human disposition for the first member of the family unit, there was generally no going back to traditional casketed burials for the family with future deaths.

I wonder if that might be the same situation with those that opt in for NOR?

Finally — It was Katrina Spade, who you can learn about here, who pioneered the process and business of Natural Organic Reduction.  She is involved with her own NOR business/funeral home in the state of Washington.  I’ve told people this before and I still believe that it could be true.  The process of “human composting” seems to resonate with people I talk to.

Cremation choice went from 1.8% of the populace in Minnesota in 1961 to  70% roughly 60 years later.  Could the same happen with NOR over the next century?  If it does and Death Care disposition decisions are changed that drastically, one hundred years from now when people read about the most influential people in the world during the 21st Century, Katrina Spade could well be in that discussion.

Here is the Recompose website.

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It’s probable to say that the fad of Green Burials has turned into a trend and may have become an accepted norm to human disposition.  Evidence of this is given by the decision of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs announcing in this press release that it is instituting a “pilot program” for interment options that minimize environmental impact.

The release, made public in late November, names three National Memorial Cemeteries that will allow the practice at this time.  Those cemeteries include the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix; Pikes Peak National Cemetery in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.

According to the press release the pilot initiative will allow the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) . . .”to gather critical information to inform customer expectations and communications and define operational procedures for implementing green burial sections at additional cemeteries”.  

The NCA will “. . . accept both cremated and intact remains for interment in green burial sections. The law provides that remains interred in a green burial section must be prepared for burial in a manner that does not involve chemicals or embalming fluids and must be buried in a biodegradable casket or urn, or are otherwise interred in a natural manner, such as securely wrapped in a biodegradable shroud”.

Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Ronald Waters had this prepared statement, among others,  in the press release, “This pilot reflects our commitment to understand and address the emerging burial preferences of Veterans and their loved ones.”

Human Disposition Related News —  Alkaline hydrolysis faces issues in Texas.  This article and news video from NBC News tells of the University of North Texas Health Science Center that has been using alkaline hydrolysis as the form of disposition for human remains, even though the state of Texas has not yet legalized alkaline hydrolysis as a form of human disposition according to the state’s Funeral Commission.

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In late September we learned that The Natural Funeral of Lafayette, Colorado, was launching a program in which existing funeral homes can purchase what the company calls “Chrysalis” vessels for use at their own funeral homes or other facilities.  The “Chrysalis” vessels are used for the human disposition process of Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) that has now been legalized in several states.

The “Chrysalis” vessels are, at this point in time, intended to be available to those funeral homes in states whose laws allow such dispositions.

The Natural Funeral calls their NOR process “terramation” and, according to CEO Mike Reagan are “extending the reach of terramation services” to other areas of the country.  Here’s what Reagan said in prepared statements from a recent press release, “By introducing the TerraCare Partner Program™, we are not only expanding the reach of terramation services but also enhancing the capacity of funeral service providers to meet a critical and growing demand for sustainable end-of-life options.  This program is a testament to our commitment to innovation and leadership in the funeral industry, ensuring that our partners can offer services that truly reflect the ecological values of the communities they serve.”

You can learn more about this partner program by clicking here to get to The Natural Funeral website.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I recently read an article that mentioned that Natural Organic Reduction is now legal in 12 states.  The same article said, however, that the process is only being done in Colorado and Washington because those are the only states with licensed facilities at this time.

I also think it is important to know, that according to this information from Dignity Memorial, which is a Service Corporation  International (SCI) company, that they mention 13 more states where legislation is being “considered”.  Adding those 13 states would make NOR legal in a full one-half of all states in the United States.

I’ve been somewhat taken aback by how this momentum for NOR seems to be growing.  And, while it is certainly too early to proclaim the process the next big thing in Death Care, there does seem to be a lot of interest by the consumer public in the process.

I’m reminded of “early adopters”.  That’s those people who are willing to jump on an idea before the idea becomes mainstream.  I’ve lived my lifetime in a period where it was first desktop computers that people were wary about, and then the internet, and finally, cell phones. . . . . .. All of those products had “early adopters” of the product and business people who believed in the process before they became mainstream.

And then, on the other side of the equation, there are those products that looked like they were headed for great success and for some reason, were overhyped and fizzled. . . . .Think about Napster, Google Glass, and Betamax.  Here’s an article from Time that I found about those failures.

So, at this point in time, you are probably on one side or the other of the Natural Organic Reduction movement.  It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.  Will it have “staying power” like flame cremation had when it was introduced to America in the 1950’s-1960’s or will NOR be hyped and then go away?

I think there are a lot of smart people betting that it is here to stay.

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