In ‘The Life We Leave,’ human composting and grief from an Auburn funeral home episode artwork

EPISODE · May 13, 2026 · 22 MIN

In ‘The Life We Leave,’ human composting and grief from an Auburn funeral home

from Soundside · host KUOW News and Information

In 2019, Washington became the first state in the country to legalize human composting as an alternative to burial and cremation. That same year, entrepreneur Micah Truman founded Return Home, a funeral home that built the world’s first large-scale human composting facility in Auburn, Washington. A new documentary tells the story of how Truman, who set out to disrupt the funeral industry for profit, discovered meaning in this new vision for death care. Guest(s) JJ Gerber, director of "The Life We Leave" Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published May 13, 2026

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A new documentary tells the story of a funeral home that built the world’s first large-scale human composting facility in Auburn, Washington.

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In ‘The Life We Leave,’ human composting and grief from an Auburn funeral home

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