“When you first talk to someone about it, they're taken aback”, Teresa Russell told the Lorikeet. For years, she has been spruiking a practice you could currently face jail time for doing: turning human bodies into fertiliser.
Not so fast: While increasingly popular in America and Germany, human composting remains illegal in New South Wales.
Russell, a Hunters Hill local, argues that changing attitudes towards funerary practices and the environment mean the practice has potential to take off in Australia. But the first challenge will be convincing the government.
Cost of dying: When her mother died a few years ago, Russell was shocked to receive a bill over $16,000. The steep price of regular funerals influenced her to start looking into what alternatives were out there.
Interment rights for a lawn cemetery in metropolitan Sydney graveyards — such as Gore Hill or Macquarie Park — can cost around $6,000.
Heading out: The most popular funeral arrangement in Australia is cremation. In 2025, 72% of NSW funerals were cremations. The alternative is burial, which can be much more costly.
Cremations are performed in a gas-powered cremator, an energy intensive process which releases around 160 kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each time.
To put that into context, an average car would need to drive around 800 kilometres to release the same amount. In 2025, around 56,000 cremations were performed in NSW.
NSW law also means a body has to be cremated inside a coffin — more matter to be sent into the atmosphere — unless special permission is sought for cultural or religious reasons.
How it works: Human composting begins with a body being placed in a vessel with organic material, typically wood chips or sawdust. The materials are adjusted to get the right balance of carbon, nitrogen, moisture and oxygen.
After the body naturally decomposes over a period of months, the soil — about one cubic metre — is cured to remove any bacteria and finally returned to the family. They can either use the compost themselves, or donate it, for example, for use in land conservation.
Who wants it: While Russell says some are initially unsettled by the practice, those with more of an agricultural background — gardeners and farmers — are highly receptive. “They know how good compost is, and use it in their everyday lives”, she said.
What now: Russell’s push to see human composting legalised has seen support in NSW Parliament from Alex Greenwich, the Member for Sydney, who in June introduced a private member's bill to legalise the practice.
“Natural organic reduction is a new way to deal with our bodies after we die that is safe, sustainable and respectful”, he said.
The bill has yet to pass through either house.
Thumbnail: Recompose