Washington state braces for eco-friendly 'human composting'

SEATTLE - As Washington prepares to become the first state to legalize "human composting," not everyone is dying to turn their loved ones' bodies into garden-variety soil.

Even the lawmaker who sponsored the bill awaiting action by the governor receives emails from people around the country expressing disgust.

"I think the vision they have is that you throw Grandpa out in the backyard with food scraps," said state Sen. Jamie Pedersen, a Seattle Democrat.

In fact, Pedersen said, the idea is that "bodies are being reduced to soil in a way that is essentially an acceleration of a very natural process." The practice reduces the environmental impact, he said, and saves land from being taken up by cemetery plots and headstones.

Some Washington residents are already lining up to