By Aliya Schneider, The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

PHILADELPHIA — Paul Meshejian, a 76-year-old retired actor who lives in Philadelphia, said he never liked the idea of his body being embalmed and taking up land in an expensive box. The remaining spots in his family’s plot and cemetery have already been claimed anyway.

Cremation, he said, is “a waste of energy and throws a lot of pollution into the atmosphere.”

So when he heard about human composting, he was all in.

“When’s the last time you walked through a cemetery and just stopped in front of a random headstone, and said, ‘I wonder what that person’s life was like’?” he said. “My ego is not that big,” he added with a laugh.

Meshejian has arranged for his body to be composted by the West Coast-based Earth Funeral, one of a handful

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