Earth Funeral’s opening offers Nevadans a new green option for burial

Kevin Mathes, a “specialist in soil transformation” for the green internment home Earth Funeral, was speaking to a military veteran about the man’s burial plans.

The veteran was exploring the idea of human composting, telling Mathes he didn’t want to leave his children and grandchildren with the burden of planning what to do with his remains after his death.

The more he spoke with Mathes, the more human composting became the solution. It was a way he could “give back for (his) future generations” of family and leave a cleaner legacy by decreasing the carbon footprint cremation would emit; a logical end for the veteran, Mathes recalled him saying.

And with Earth Funeral opening this month as the first human composting in Nevada, locals now can become one with the Earth much closer to home.

“People have been waiting patiently for this facility to open, from Northern Arizona, California (and) Nevada, so they’re very excited about that,” said Mathes, the lead care adviser at Earth Funeral. “It’s amazing that when you have a conversation about this, or they learn about it, that it’s almost as if a light bulb goes off and they just go, oh yeah, this lines up with exactly what I want.”

Assembly Bill 289 authorizing the use of natural organic reduction for the cremation of human remains was signed into law by Gov. Joe Lombardo during the 2023 Nevada Legislature.

Unlike traditional burials — when human bodies are embalmed, placed in caskets and buried or entombed — or cremations that burn the bodies to ashes, natural organic reduction converts bodies into soil faster than standard decomposition, according to Earth Funeral.

Earth Funeral’s method uses natural materials like locally sourced wildflowers, organic mulch and wood chips to mimic the process that organic material decomposes on forest floors and becomes topsoil.

The practice is legal in 12 states, including neighboring Arizona. California’s bill on human composting was signed into law in September 2022 but will not take effect until 2027.

Washington was the first state to legalize the disposition method in 2019. Five of the 12 states passed their legislation this year. An additional 13 states have a human composting bill in progress, Earth Funeral said.

“To me, it seems like a pretty neat thing to drive by and tell your children that grandma is part of that forest,” said Assemblyman Max Carter, D-Las Vegas, who proposed the bill, in a previous interview with the Sun. “Seems nicer than going and visiting a graveyard.”

Earth Funeral, which also has locations in Oregon and Washington, had been eyeing Las Vegas for its positioning between northern Arizona, Southern California and Utah, Mathes said. The company tries to be mindful of its own carbon footprint by asking people not to travel long distances to facilities outside their region, he added.

The addition of this Las Vegas branch not only makes it the first human composting facility in the state, it also provides greater access for people in other states so they don’t need to make the thousand-mile drive or hours-long flight to Earth Funeral’s facilities in the Pacific Northwest, Mathes said.

The cost of human composting at Earth Funeral starts at $5,000 but can increase based on certain customizations, like the state in which services are sought or how the soil is returned.

After Earth Funeral receives a body, it is gently washed and wrapped in a biodegradable shroud before being laid upon the organic mixture in a 7-foot “vessel” where the soil transformation occurs. The preparation process takes about an hour in total. Earth Funeral’s Las Vegas facility off Pilot Road south of Harry Reid International Airport can hold 75 of these vessels.

Human composting at Earth Funeral takes anywhere from 30 to 45 days depending on the individual’s size and produces about a cubic yard — around 2,000 pounds — of soil per body, but families can opt instead to receive five biodegradable containers of soil that equal about a quart in size, Mathes said.

During the process, corpses must stay in a temperature-controlled unit, soil must be turned periodically and bones must be broken down to a level prescribed in state standards.

A single cremation is estimated to emit about 534 pounds of carbon dioxide into the environment, according to research conducted by the Cremation Association of North America. The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator estimates that to equal driving 619 miles in a gasoline-powered car.

Nevada was the top state where cremation was most common in 2022, according to data from the Cremation Association of North America. In 2023, over 80% of Nevada’s population turned to cremation, and cremations are expected to grow from 60.6% in 2023 to 66.7% in 2028.

The Cremation Association of North America believes this method of disposition is more popular among people who are less religious or have no affiliation; possess higher average education levels; and are more transient — as ashes are easier to store and transport between states or countries.

Meanwhile, human composting has “no chemicals that are applied … no heat that is applied” and provides people with a more natural way to be buried, Stephanie McGee, executive director of Nevada’s Board of Funeral and Cemetery Services, told the Sun in a previous interview. Earth Funeral says its “process is net carbon neutral” compared to cremation.

When a body has fully decomposed, families or the deceased individual have a choice where they can end up — one of which is on land in Washington or California that are protected as National Conservation Lands.

Earth Funeral works has agreements with organizations involved in National Conservation Land areas in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula and California’s San Joaquin River Basin to repopulate the land with indigenous trees, wild flora and leftover soil from the decomposition process.

The company is also looking for new conservation land closer to Nevada, said Mathes, and has eyed spots in Mount Charleston as well as Northern Arizona.

Despite the relative newness of human composting, Mathes said “people are very excited to learn and educate themselves more” about the technique, and the Earth Funeral facility has seen anywhere from 5 to 6 hour-long tours a day since opening them last week.

“People talk about this as a alternative to traditional burial and cremation, (but) we really do believe that’s almost a misnomer … because there’s so many people that don’t even know, they think they have two options — traditional burial (or) cremation — and … we do believe it’s gonna become more of the norm because it is a wonderful option,” Mathes said. “Composting is really, it’s what nature intended; I think we’re the only species that has thought we could do it better with traditional burial and cremation.”

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