Metal pieces from cremated remains are being used for traffic signs.

Here’s one creative way to save on resources. A council in the United Kingdom is recycling metal parts from cremated remains, using the material to create street signs.

Pieces like replacement hip joints or metal plates from skulls, legs and teeth are collected following bodily cremations in Bristol and Bath. Metal clamps are also sometimes left on patients who passed away during a medical procedure. Those parts are also recycled.

The pieces are grouped together in wheeled bins at crematoriums. Once there is a decent amount of metal, the containers are taken to a specialist plant, where the metal is melted down.

It is then used to create road signs or barriers for safety purposes. Families of the deceased who do not wish to save metal pieces sign a form so they can be recycled.

In another report involving the deceased and resources, an Australian city in the Northern Territory recently proposed changes in the Cemeteries Act which would allow for vertical graves. If the proposal is accepted, the move is expected to save both land space and costs.