One mom carried out her son’s final wish to make the planet greener — by turning his remains into reusable compost for his family to use in a garden.
The TikTok, which was posted by the company Return Home Terramation earlier this year, has since received nearly 52 million views.
“When your only son dies and you carry out his wish to be composted all the way to very end,” reads the in-video caption.
The video shows a woman, presumably the mother, spreading a layer of compost over a body, which will eventually be sent back as usable soil.
The “green funeral” became legal in 2019 and is performed in states like New York, Washington State, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont and California, but TikTok users had mixed reactions about the burial method.
“I’ve always wanted a tree burial but this would be beautiful too,” said one.
“Finally, a kind of burial that doesn’t sound horrifying,” added another. “I love this.”
“Traditional burials have an underlying tone of finality which is heartbreaking…this is a sacred process of repurpose/continuation,” said a third.
But what exactly is a green funeral, and what does it entail?
“It’s quite simple really,” worker Brienna Smith told Need To Know Online. “We load an empty vessel with a mixture of organic materials that are combined to expedite the breakdown of the human body.”
According to Smith, materials in the vessel include alfalfa, straw and sawdust.
“Over the course of 60-90 days, we constantly monitor the oxygen flow, temperature, and moisture level inside of those vessels,” she explained. “This constant monitoring allows us to make adjustments as needed to ensure an unproblematic terramation.”
The worker said that once the loved one’s body is done decomposing, the compost is shipped back to the family to use as they see fit.
Another video posted by the account also goes into greater detail about how the body and vessel are prepared, noting “the full process yields about 250 pounds, or a cubic yard, of soil.”
Smith describes the process as “gentle” on the body as well as the Earth.
“Cremation and ‘traditional’ US burial are both damaging to the environment, both using an incredible amount of resources,” said Smith.
She added that the burial is “so much more gentle on the decedent than embalming or cremation, and the body stays completely whole through the process which can not be said of any other disposition method aside from a green burial.”
“Terramation requires very little resources and the process is almost completely passive, so very little energy is used,” she said.
Smith also said that the process allows loved ones to be “more involved” in the person’s after-life care.
Return Home Terramation even showed how one person cut their hair and put it in the vessel as a tribute to their relationship.
“Terramation, though focused on the sustainability of the death care industry, would be nothing without the people who have chosen the service,” said Smith. “Those who choose terramation know that they will be offered the ability to be involved in their loved one’s after-life care in as granular a way as they choose.”
“Several of our staff have been funeral professionals for their whole adult lives,” she added, “and our experiences at Return Home have altered everything we thought we knew about death and grief.”