
Earth Funeral® Maryland Human Composting Facility Mortuary Lift | American Mortuary Equipment
Earth Funeral® opened the first human composting facility on the East Coast in Elkridge, Maryland in May 2026. In October 2026 Earth ordered another HD 1000 MAX G1 mortuary scissor lift from American Mortuary Coolers & Equipment for the Elkridge building, the same lift it bought for its Las Vegas facility in 2024. When an operator that runs the largest human composting center in the country buys the same lift twice, that is a strong signal for any NOR facility planning its handling equipment.
| Facility | Earth | East Coast, 6955 San Tomas Rd, Elkridge, MD 21075 |
| Opened | May 2026, per the Maryland Daily Record |
| Size | About 37,000 sq ft, capacity of up to 2,000 remains a year, per WBAL-TV |
| Vessels | Opened with about 50 vessels, planned to grow to 126, per The Baltimore Banner |
| Legal basis | Maryland Green Death Care Options Act, 2024 |
| Ordered from AMC | October 7, 2026: HD 1000 MAX G1 mortuary lift with multi-directional top |
A new use case: lifting into a composting vessel
Maryland lawmakers legalized natural organic reduction in 2024, and state regulators finalized the rules on April 10, 2026, according to The BayNet. Earth's process wraps each body in a biodegradable shroud and places it in a vessel with mulch, wood chips and wildflowers; the vessel then turns the remains into soil in about 30 days, per CBS Baltimore. CBS describes the vessels as looking like a bank vault from the outside.
That loading step is where a lift earns its place. A body on a cot sits well below a raised vessel opening. Lifting by hand at that height is the kind of repeated strain that injures staff. A powered scissor lift raises the decedent to the opening and lets staff slide the body across on a level surface.

Why the HD 1000 MAX
- 1,000 lb rated capacity covers bariatric cases.
- Multi-directional top lets staff fine-tune alignment with a vessel or table before transfer.
- Powered lift with hand controls, side-rail lock pins and caster brakes; see the HD 1000 MAX product page for the user manual.
- Not low-profile: for the bottom tier of a rack, add the low profile mortuary lift.
Equipment a human composting facility needs
- Refrigerated holding for bodies awaiting laying-in: walk-in mortuary coolers or roll-in coolers.
- Racks to store bodies at several heights: 4-tier side-loading or 4-tier end-loading.
- Lifts for every height in the building: HD 1000 MAX, low profile lift and the manual body and casket lifter.
- Body boards and trays: plastic body boards and 23" stainless steel trays.
Earth's Las Vegas facility
Earth's first AMC order outfitted Nevada's first human composting facility in 2024. See Earth Funeral® Las Vegas human composting facility equipment.
Human composting guides
- Body composting process 101: how it works from start to finish
- Beginner's guide to terramation
- Human composting options
- Body composting costs
- Body composting laws in New York and California
Request a quote
Tell us your facility, capacity and timeline. A specialist replies within one business day with model numbers, dimensions and a delivered price. Prefer email? Send drawings or an RFQ to po@mymortuarycooler.com or call 1-888-792-9315.
More customer facilities
- Earth Funeral® Las Vegas Human Composting Facility
- After® Arvada, Colorado direct cremation cooler and racks
- After® Denver, Colorado direct cremation racks
- MaineHealth Waldo Hospital (Waldo County Hospital) morgue cooler, Belfast, Maine
- Sumner County EMS morgue racks, Gallatin, Tennessee
- Columbia County, Wisconsin medical examiner bariatric cooler and lift
- Monroe County, Pennsylvania Coroner's Office 4-body cooler
- Putnam County, Georgia county morgue rack and lift
- Becker Funeral Homes, Ohio 10x40 walk-in cooler in an existing garage
Want the same equipment for your facility? Call 1-888-792-9315 or email po@mymortuarycooler.com. Purchase records, manuals and compliance documents are in our forms library.
Earth Funeral® and its logo are trademarks of their owner and are shown only to identify a customer facility that purchased equipment from American Mortuary Coolers & Equipment. No endorsement is implied.
Published November 3, 2026 by American Mortuary Coolers & Equipment, Johnson City, Tennessee.










