Post by Tom Fairless

There is a looming crisis in America’s death industry. Green-Wood Cemetery might have found a lifeline. The storied 478-acre Brooklyn burial ground, like many across the U.S., is running out of room for new occupants. With the help of a German entrepreneur, cemetery officials believe they can profitably augment the property by turning loved ones into gardening soil. The cemetery plans to start with around 18 composting vessels from Berlin-based startup, Meine Erde—translation, My Earth. While similar human-compost companies are sprinkled around the U.S., Pablo Metz, the 45-year-old founder of Meine Erde, hopes to spread the practice to more Americans, starting in Brooklyn. Baby boomers, the West’s most affluent cohort, have been enthusiastic disrupters of cultural norms. As they reach old age, the business of burial is poised for an influx of money and new ideas, including biodegradable coffins and holograms of the deceased to display as digital memorials. In the U.S., 14 states have legalized human composting, starting with Washington in 2019. Parliaments from Germany to Switzerland, Belgium and the U.K. are considering it. Many in the funeral industry view such plans with alarm. Funeral homes charge for embalming, caskets, vaults and funeral services. Human composting might significantly cut into business. Metz, chief executive of Meine Erde, has spent the past five-plus years crisscrossing Germany, trying to persuade lawmakers and medics, undertakers and religious authorities to approve human composting. Metz’s backers are planning to set up a U.S. headquarters and production facilities. “One thing Germany is built on is high-level manufacturing,” said Eric Lagier, a Copenhagen-based venture capitalist and one of Metz’s early investors. “They will come to the U.S. with a Formula One race car.” https://lnkd.in/eM23JzXc