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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Return Home Announces Expansion into Minnesota as Natural Organic Reduction Becomes Legal

SEATTLE, July 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Return Home, the nation’s leading provider of human composting, also known as Natural Organic Reduction (NOR), announced today that it is actively planning to open a new facility in Minnesota. This announcement comes as NOR becomes legal in the state, effective July 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.

“We are incredibly excited to begin our expansion eastward into the amazing state of Minnesota,” said Micah Truman, CEO and founder of Return Home. “This is a state known for its deep connection to land, community, and innovation—and it’s beautifully suited to our values and approach. Today marks the beginning of a powerful new chapter.”

Return Home’s Minnesota facility will be designed with the same care, transparency, and family-centered focus that has defined its work in Washington state. With over 500 families served, the company has pioneered an approach to NOR that combines technological innovation with compassionate, deeply human service.

Planning is currently underway for public presentations, community partnerships, and investor events throughout the Twin Cities and surrounding areas. The new facility is expected to bring not only cutting-edge environmental death care to Minnesota, but also meaningful new jobs and opportunities for regional collaboration.

More details on the planned location, opening timeline, and community outreach events will be announced in the coming weeks. For funeral homes interested in being part of the discussion around community outreach and education, please reach out directly to the Return Home team at info@returnhome.com. For updates and more information, visit www.returnhome.com.

About Return Home
Return Home is the leading provider of Natural Organic Reduction (human composting) in the United States. Based in Washington state, the company offers families a gentle, transparent, and environmentally responsible alternative to burial and cremation. Return Home has been featured in Forbes, NPR, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and more, and is the recipient of multiple national funeral industry honors. Learn more at www.returnhome.com.

We’ve just been through a presidential election in America and in less than one week a new president will be inaugurated.  Anyone who watched that presidential election proceed and move to its conclusion over the past year would now know that “anything can happen” in American politics and just when you think you have seen it all. . . . .something you have never thought of pops up.

It’s just another reason why I’ve became a believer that “Truth can be stranger than fiction”.

I’m from the state of Minnesota and our politics are as strange as they are anywhere else.  Quite frankly, the state is like lots of other places at this point in time — very much equally divided among the liberals and the conservatives.

As a matter of fact, Minnesota is so equally divided that, as this article points out, the state legislature was set to begin today with 67 House members who are Democrats and 67 House members who are Republicans and the State Senate was set to convene with an even tie also. . .with 33 Democrats and 33 Republicans.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

However, nothing is as it seems — as in the House Democrats are down to 66 members because one of their victorious candidates had his residency challenged and lost that challenge. So, they are down to 66 and in the minority until a new election for that House district position takes place in late January.  And, as the above linked article points out the minority group is planning not to show up today so that a quorum is not present. . . which, if present, would let the Republicans elect the speaker and place the majorities on all committees because of their temporary 67-66 advantage.

And, in the Senate which normally has 67 members avoiding any ties, one Democrat member has passed away putting the number at 66 — 33 of each party.  In an even stranger twist, Republicans are trying to get Senate member Nicole Mitchell disqualified from voting until her burglary charge case is adjudicated in late January which would at least temporarily drop the Democrat number to 32 and give the Republicans the edge in that chamber also.

What exactly is one of the items that Mitchell is accused of stealing?  . . . . her father’s ashes.  There is more to that story, but here is what the USA Today reported last April when Sen. Mitchell was first arrested and charged:

“The Minnesota state senator who was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary said the incident unfolded at the home of a relative with dementia as she was trying to sneak in to retrieve her father’s ashes.”

We all saw the pathways of how the 2024 Presidential Election played out. . . . . now we have these types of issues happening.  Do you think that this is what our forefathers anticipated back on July 4, 1776, when our Declaration of Independence was adopted?

Related History— Here’s a story that Funeral Director Daily published on July 4, 2024, which gives a look at my “connection” to America’s Declaration of Indepence.

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Like many I learned of the death of Minnesota funeral home owner and operator William L. McReavy, Sr. on Christmas Day.

Here is Legacy.com’s announcement of that event.

The Washburn-McReavy brand goes back to the year 1857 in Minnesota which happens to be one year before Minnesota became a state.  Like many generational family firms still in business the brand started as a furniture manufacturer in Minneapolis who were many times tasked with the job of building a coffin for the deceased.

William L. McReavy, Sr.

William L. McReavy, Sr, age 92, took over the one-roof firm, near the edge of the University of Minnesota campus at the tender age of 17 when his father died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1949.  In 1963, McReavy made his first aquisition. . . today the company has 18 facilities in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market and is still family operated.

Here is the website of today’s Washburn-McReavy Funeral Homes.

An incredible mentor:  You can get the facts on the man I will always call “Mr. McReavy” from lots of places, but you will only get my feelings about the man here.

You see, and I’ve mentioned this in Funeral Director Daily before, at age 19 my father died of a sudden heart attack and if our generational funeral home was to go on it was up to me to carry on.  I had enrolled at the University of Minnesota and, eventually, like a lot of mortuary science students, I looked for a funeral home apartment to live in to save money, and learn part of the business, while going to school.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Turns out, that probably one of the luckiest days of my life was when three of us mortuary students secured an apartment at the Washburn-McReavy “Southeast location”.  Eventually, Mr. McReavy met me and while he never told me, I think he put 2 + 2 together and realized I was starting in the business much like he had — a young son of a deceased owner who was a little scared of what the future held for me.

I did what all students did — answered phones, went on death calls, washed the automobile fleet (over and over and over), but was also fortunate that Mr. McReavy kept his office in the Southeast location. . . and, as busy as he was, told me “If you ever need to talk about school or the funeral business, just come up to my office and we will visit.” . . . . I took him up on those offers and learned invaluable lessons, not only about the funeral business. . . but about life.

I owned and operated our small rural family business for 35 years and much of what I did to build business was modeled after the successful McReavy innovations at his business – the largest funeral home operation in the state.  One of the things I learned was about “building a brand”.  When Mr. McReavy bought a funeral home, the exterior was always remodeled to look like the other company facilities with a unique logo on the building. . . . Also, he had a distinctive look with his vehicles — they were all white in a day when hearses were always black.

One of the first things I did was develop a unique logo for our brand. . . a logo that is still in use today.  And, I put a distinctive look on our vehicles — they were all basic black but I added gold pinstriping to all of them so they stood out from other black vehicles.

There was so much I learned from Mr. McReavy that I know I would not have been as successful as I was without him.

And in kind of an odd twist of fate I kind of feel like I got to pay him back in some small measure in the later years.  Mr. and Mrs. McReavy were big fans and benefactors to the University of Minnesota and as fate would have it I was selected by the Minnesota Legislature to serve on the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota and it made Mr. McReavy so proud to finally have a funeral director serve on that board. . . a school which offers a 4-year degree in Mortuary Science through the University’s Medical School.

Because of that position, Mr. McReavy and I got to see each other at football games and hockey games and University fund-raising events and even in his advancing age he loved talking the “funeral business”.

I’m very fortunate because a lot of people have been very good to me over the years, but as I told Mr. McReavy’s son and daughter in a text message on Christmas Day, “Nobody has been more kind to me than your father”.

Funeral service has lost one of our pioneers — May God Bless the memory of William L. McReavy, Sr.

Related —  William and Kay McReavy receive the University of Minnesota’s Highest Honor

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