Each year in the United States we bury:

827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, which includes formaldehyde

180,544,000 pounds of copper and bronze in caskets

30 million board feet of hardwoods, including exotic woods, in caskets

3,272,000,000 pounds of reinforced concrete vaults

28,000,000 pounds of steel in vaults

(Statistics compiled by Mary Woodsen, VP Pre-Posthumous Society of Ithaca, NY, and a science writer at Cornell University)