<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2MefbR_0lgIr05200" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2MefbR_0lgIr05200" width="1320" height="742" ></figure>AUGUSTA (WGME) -- Composting bodies and open-air cremations are among several ideas lawmakers are pitching in Augusta as a way of disposing of human remains.One bill would allow for bodies to be composted into soil instead of buried in a casket or cremated. Another would allow for open air cremations, which would be run by a nonprofit at designated sites.Lawmakers are considering another bill that allows for the burial of biodegradable containers for caskets or urns, as well as tree pods, which the bill's sponsor, Republican State Senator Eric Brakey, says are containers buried directly underneath roots of a tree.The Health and Human Services Committee heard arguments for these bills Tuesday morning.Here are the bills up for debate regarding human remains:<ul><li>LD 465 would authorize a funeral director or authorized person present at a burial or crematory in Maine to electronically affirm the disposition of human remains.</li></ul><ul><li>LD 536 provides for the treatment of human remains by natural organic reduction as an alternative to burial in a casket or cremation. Natural organic reduction is the contained accelerated conversion of human remains to soil.</li></ul><ul><li>LD 584 would allow a nonprofit corporation to conduct open air cremations by pyre if it meets certain requirements.</li></ul><ul><li>LD 762 authorizes the burial of biodegradable containers, such as a casket or an urn, containing human remains or cremated remains, including tree pods, which are containers buried directly underneath the roots of a tree.</li></ul><ul><li>LD 838 would require the Chief Medical Examiner to use forensic genetic genealogy testing with the deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, of the human remains of an unidentified individual after 45 days of having possession of the unidentified human remains.</li></ul></div></body>

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Bills regarding composting bodies, open-air cremations being considered in Maine

AUGUSTA (WGME) -- Composting bodies and open-air cremations are among several ideas lawmakers are pitching in Augusta as a way of disposing of human remains. One bill would allow for bodies to be composted into soil instead of buried in a casket or cremated. Another would allow for open air cremations, which would be run by a nonprofit at designated sites.