Vendor spotlight: The Good Green Death Project, a KW local organization hoping to make green burial options more accessible in our region. We sent Susan a few questions about the work she’s doing. Here are her responses! PS, the Good Green Death Project was the winner of our first pitch competition in February and we’re so so incredibly proud of what she’s achieved since then!!!

1. Tell me about your business/organization.

The Good Green Death Project is a social venture working to make the individual composting of human remains a legal alternative to cremation and burial in Ontario. The resulting nutrient-rich soil would be used to plant a memorial tree to help create a protected conservation forest. No fossil fuels or costly diminishing resources are used for our final act on Earth. The founding company, Recompose, in Seattle Washington has calculated this method saves 1 metric tonne of CO2 per body.

Here’s a shot of Susan presenting at our Pitch Competition this February!

2. How do you work to keep sustainability at the core of your business?

Creating a more sustainable option for our death practices is the goal.

3. Tell me about you/your team. What got you/your team here to a green business/organization? Why?

I'm getting older and wasn't happy with the options that were available when my parents died. My research led me to composting as an option and the work of Katrina Spade with the Urban Death Project (now Recompose). No one seemed to be doing this in Ontario, so I decided to, and have been joined by a wonderful group of people who share this goal and are willing to work for free to make it happen.

4. What are you up to? Any new events? Products?

From my initial meeting with Katrina Spade in Seattle in 2017, I agreed to build up public support and legalize human composting in Ontario. This is an ongoing process to keep the communication open with local politicians, and the Bereavement Authority of Ontario which is the regulatory body of the provincial Funeral and Cemetery Act. I have a number of other requests for speaking engagements coming up, including a congregation in Hanover, ON. I'm pretty excited with our newly-designed website that team member, Lisa Gillett, has been working on! Also, one of the prizes from the EcoMarket pitch competition was marketing support from Him and Her. They've done a great job tarting up my PPP, which I will be premiering at this year's EcoMarket!

5. Any highlights to share from the Eco Market 2018 event?

I was not an exhibitor at the 2018 event, but was delighted to see so many other people attending! It gives me hope that we can turn around this mess we've made of our home planet.