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Sunday 28 April 2019

What about the Lycra?



The other day I found myself scratching my head over plans to introduce human composting

Washington Will Likely Be First State to Allow ‘Human Composting’ as a Burial Method

The accelerated decomposition method transforms remains into soil and uses just an eighth of the energy required for cremation.

A new bill passed by Washington state legislators and headed to the desk of Governor Jay Inslee outlines a low impact alternative to these more traditional forms of burial. As Rachel La Corte writes for the Associated Press, the bill would make the state the first to legalize “natural organic reduction,” an accelerated decomposition method that transforms remains into soil. Also known as “human composting” or “recomposition,” the process takes between four to seven weeks and produces roughly a cubic yard of compost.

Fair enough but there are any number of unlikely but possible objections, human nature being what it is. For example, what about keen cyclists who wish to be composted as cyclists complete with cycling kit? Lycra, or Spandex as it is also known, is not biodegradable so where does that leave the composting process?

Spandex is one of several non-biodegradable synthetic fibers. Today most clothes containing spandex end up as non-recyclable waste once they've been worn out, as fabric blends containing spandex are difficult to recycle.

Knocks the edge off cycling as cutting edge environmental virtue signalling. Maybe it would be a good idea to go back to cotton shirts and woollen trousers with bamboo cycle clips as a nod to the environmental lobby.

3 comments:

Sam Vega said...

Knocks the edge off cycling as cutting edge environmental virtue signalling.

Sends a good defensive message to other road users, though. "Kill me, and there's no way this lot will decompose!"

Scrobs. said...

The UK has been conducting experiments on this for decades.

They're called 'The House of Lords', and while one of them still rides a bike (Ms Amelia Trellis of 39, Acacia Gardens, Thursdays and Saturdays), he is still wearing the same smelly ermine he bought in Portobello Road in 1962.

Lycra may well take over the use of animal fur one day, but by then the whole sorry lot of them will have been consigned to the dusbin, and employed as landfill!

A K Haart said...

Sam - that could lead on to the plot of a Midsomer Murders episode. Motorist buries his cyclist victim in a municipal composter but doesn't realise the Lycra won't break down.

Scrobs - that's a thought. I wonder how many cubic yards of compost the House of Lords would generate and would anyone use it to grow cabbages?