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Space burial - You can launch your cremated remains into space! The ashes apparently stay in the spacecraft until it either re-enters Earth's atmosphere and burns up upon re-entry, reaches another extraterrestrial destination like the Moon, or leaves the solar system and enters deep space.

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Space burial - This literal departure from the world, back into stardust, can cost as little as US$2,500, and both animal and human remains have already orbited earth in celestial memorial.

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Mushroom suit burial - The mushroom burial, developed by Jae Rhim Lee, involves an eco-friendly process of dressing a cadaver in a bodysuit with mushroom spores woven into it in order to allow the mushrooms to consume the remains as they grow.

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Mushroom suit burial - Rhim developed her own mushrooms by feeding them her hair, skin, and nails to create a mushroom variety that will best decompose human remains and diffuse the massive amount of toxins we release. It only costs about US$1,000.

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Cryogenic freezing - This is a much more rare burial method, used mostly for those who are brain dead. Cryonics are still being researched, but it's essentially the process of being frozen in the hopes of one day waking up unchanged.

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Cryogenic freezing - By freezing the body in such a way that doesn't damage the tissue, it is believed that the person might one day be revived through advances in technology.

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Heavens Above Fireworks - Saying goodbye doesn’t have to be a somber, quiet event. Celebrate life and go out with a literal bang by incorporating your cremated ashes into fireworks!

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Heavens Above Fireworks - Heavens Above Fireworks lets you personalize your send-off by selecting from a range of firework displays, starting at about US$1,400.

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Eternal Reef - Eternal Reefs takes the cremated remains of the deceased and incorporates them into an environmentally safe cement mixture used to create new marine habitats for fish and other forms of sea life.

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Eternal Reef - The Eternal Reefs are placed in permitted ocean locations selected by the individual or their family.  It combines a cremation urn, ash scattering, and burial at sea into one environmental legacy.

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Organic burial pods -

You can be buried whole in an organic, biodegradable pod that allows the organic matter to transform into minerals which provide the nutrients that help a tree grow right above you.

The technique reportedly originated in Italy and is called the Capsula Mundi project. Imagine, instead of creepy cemeteries, there would be forests rich with life!

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Biodegradable urns - Bios Urn has a similar idea that allows you to become a tree after death by using 100% biodegradable materials such as coconut shells, compacted peat, and cellulose.

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Biodegradable urns - What's different is that the individual would first be cremated, and the seed in the urn develops first until it's strong enough to grow through the ashes. You can pick from trees including maple, pine, gingko, beech, and more.

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Become 240 pencils - Did you know you can make an average of 240 pencils from the carbon of a cremated human? Each pencil is foil stamped with the name of the deceased, and they're delivered in a box that only allows one pencil to be removed at a time. 

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Become 240 pencils - The pencils are sharpened back into the box, over time creating a new ash and turning the pencil case into an urn. There's also a window in the case which acts as a timeline, showing you the amount of pencils left as time goes by. Make sure every word counts!

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Alkaline Hydrolysis (Water Cremation) - For the eco-minded, Alkaline Hydrolysis is a three-hour process where a deceased body is dissolved in a hot lye-water mixture that mimics a faster natural decomposition process and is much more environmentally friendly than cremation.

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Alkaline Hydrolysis (Water Cremation) -

The resulting liquid is a brownish syrupy residue with strong ammonia smell that is sterile and can be poured down the drain. The bones remain, and they can be pressed into ashes for the family.

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Become a diamond ring - Algordanza is a Swiss startup company that’s reinventing memorial keepsakes by using isolated carbon from cremated human remains to create diamonds.

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Become a diamond ring - The process is probably ideal for lost best friends, as you know what they say about diamonds...

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Make ashes artful - Seattle-based company Artful Ashes is setting a new standard for urns and helping loved ones during the grieving process through the use of glass blowing. 

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Make ashes artful - They collect one tablespoon of your loved one’s ashes and include them in a unique glass orb.

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Plastination - Plastination is a process of removing all liquids from the body, replacing water and fat with certain plastics, and allowing only tissue mass to remain. They can be touched, they don't smell or decay, and they even retain most properties of the original sample.

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Plastination - This is a great option if you want to give yourself to a greater purpose, like the furthering of science and education. 

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Become 3D printer ink - Narbon, a funeral home located in Madrid, Spain, is using human ash in 3D printers to preserve memories in a unique and radically new form.

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Become 3D printer ink - They use a mixture of ashes and 3D printing material to create jewelry and custom-made objects, including busts and vases.

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Live on in a vinyl - Don't be buried and forgotten like a one hit wonder! Treat your cremated remains like a platinum record! UK company Andvinyly will take your cremated ashes and press them into 30 discs, each with 24 total minutes of audio (12 minutes on each side).

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Live on in a vinyl - You have to supply the audio, so you can record a message or have them use your favorite songs. The disc package reportedly starts at US$3,700.

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Live on in a vinyl -

You can call it, "Songs in the Key of Death." On a more serious note, you can allegedly also request that your vinyls are sold in whichever strange record stores that comply. 

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Get creative! -

As your final experience on Earth, you don't want it to be a boring one. Just don't be like those people who were caught scattering their loved ones' ashes in Disney parks.

See also: Fascinating funeral traditions around the world

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