全球首个人类堆肥设施将于2021年投入使用

全球首个人类堆肥设施将于2021年投入使用

When a human being's time is up, in Western countries we generally have two main options for our mortal remains - burial or cremation. Now, a world-first facility has been set up to offer a unique alternative ritual to traditional choices: compost.

当一个人的时间到了，在西方国家，我们通常有两种主要的选择——埋葬或火化。现在，一个世界第一的设施已经建立起来，为传统的选择提供一个独特的替代仪式:堆肥。

Recompose, which is scheduled to begin operations in Seattle, Washington in 2021, bills itself as the world's first human composting facility, offering to gently convert human remains into soil, in a process it calls "recomposition" or "natural organic reduction".

Recompose计划于2021年在华盛顿州西雅图开始运作，自称是世界上第一家人类堆肥设施，提供将人类遗骸温和地转化成土壤的方法，该过程被称为“重组”或“自然有机还原”。

The company, a public benefit corporation led by founder Katrina Spade, has been in the works for years, but became a legally viable service this year when Washington passed a historic bill to become the first US state to allow human composting.

该公司是由其创始人卡特里娜?斯佩德领导的一家公益公司，多年来一直在筹备中，但今年华盛顿通过了一项具有历史意义的法案，成为美国第一个允许人类堆肥的州。

The law goes into effect in May 2020, enabling what Spade calls a "death-care revolution", in which bodies of the deceased will transform into soil in the company's reusable, hexagonal 'Recomposition Vessels'.

这部法律将于2020年5月生效，从而开启了斯佩德所称的“死亡关怀革命”，在这场革命中，逝者的遗体将在该公司可重复使用的六边形“重组容器”中转化为土壤。

The process draws upon the traditional principles of natural or 'green' burials, but takes place inside the reusable vessels, rather than being permanently interred at the same time.

这一过程借鉴了传统的自然或“绿色”埋葬的原则，但在可重复使用的容器中进行，而不是同时永久埋葬。

Bodies are covered with wood chips and aerated, providing the perfect environment for naturally occurring microbes and beneficial bacteria, Recompose's web site explains.

Recompose网站解释说:“尸体上覆盖着木屑，并通了气，为自然产生的微生物和有益细菌提供了完美的环境。”

Over the span of about 30 days, the body is fully transformed, creating soil which can then be used to grow new life.

“在大约30天的时间里，身体完全改变了，创造了土壤，然后可以用来生长新的生命。”

Once the composting process is complete, family and friends of the departed are encouraged to take some or all of the cubic yard of soil generated per person (amounting to several wheelbarrows of soil), and can use it to grow their own gardens, with remaining soil being used for conservation purposes.

堆肥过程完成后,离开家人和朋友的鼓励部分或全部立方码人均产生的土壤(土壤达几个手推车),并可以使用它来增长自己的花园,剩下的土壤是用于保护目的。

Conservation aims are a linchpin of the company's overall purpose – and the law that will let companies like Recompose operate – designed to provide a more environmentally friendly end-of-life ritual than burying embalmed corpses in wooden caskets, or burning remains in cremation, which is energy intensive due to the high temperatures required, and produces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

保护目标的关键在于公司的整体的目的,这样的法律会让公司重组操作,旨在提供一个更环保的临终仪式将经过防腐处理的尸体埋在木制棺材,或者燃烧仍在火葬,这是能源密集型由于所需的高温,并产生二氧化碳(CO2)排放。

Recompose estimates each person who chooses their organic reduction process (at a fee of about US$5,500) over cremation or conventional burial will save a metric tonne of CO2, thanks to the carbon sequestration which occurs at different points throughout the process. Not to mention the benefits of producing useful soil, rather than taking up limited land.

Recompose估计，每个选择有机减碳过程(费用约为5500美元)而非火化或传统掩埋的人，将节省1公吨的二氧化碳，因为在整个过程的不同阶段都会发生碳封存。更不用说生产有用的土壤，而不是占用有限的土地。

I think one of the things for me, in addition to [the] carbon savings, is just having a way to create useable soil, Spade told Citylab in January.

今年1月，斯佩德在接受Citylab采访时表示:“对我来说，除了能节省碳排放，还有一件事就是能够创造出可用的土壤。”

Something that you can go grow a tree with and have sort of this ritual around that feels meaningful.

“你可以带着这些东西去种一棵树，并在周围做一些有意义的仪式。”