SNOW HILL, M.d - Worcester County's Board of Zoning Appeals approved a site for human composting in the Pocomoke forest along Scotty Road.
"Earth Funeral" takes human remains and allows them to decompose in an all-natural soil mixture, which includes wildflowers and woodchips. No chemicals or insects are involved.
After the soil is processed at the facility, the soil is then transported to the site for it to be planted as a nutrient for trees. People can also take home the soil as well.
The process is called "Natural Organic Reduction (NOR)", and is a natural alternative to traditional burial or cremation.
County Commission President Ted Elder says the zoning approval is pretty much a done deal, unless someone challenges it in court.
"We have no written regulations concerning these kind of businesses in our zoning laws yet," he says. "So we're looking into those things, too."
Hugh Cropper is the attorney for Earth Funeral. He says people won't even know that the site is there once planting begins.
"It won't be a traditional cemetery," he says. "There'll be no markers. There'll be no signs. It'll look just it'll look just like this. Except it'll be grass and more trees."
Cropper says Earth Funeral will visit the site twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. With each visit, crews will plant one to two acres of soil.
The site would be the first of its kind on the Eastern Seaboard.
