As much as you hate them, you've probably got credit cards sitting in your purse or wallet right now. And we all know that gift cards have become the easy and practical present for holidays, birthdays, and every celebration in between. But what happens to those pesky little pieces of plastic after they no longer hold a balance? One pair of innovative twin sisters decided that the trash can was no longer an option and began searching for a creative alternative.

You probably already know that excessive waste from single use products and packaging poses a hazardous problem, both for people and the environment. Plastic waste has been called "more dangerous than global warming" and many are already aware of the massive floating collection of bottles, bags and other plastic trash that's swirling around in the Pacific ocean, contaminating the water and proving fatal for many species of marine life.

While charged with the job of dispatching old, worn, and expired gift cards and credit cards, Kelly Campbell, one of the creative minds behind Kellybeth Designs, became inspired to do something more productive with this colorful bits of molded plastic.

From the Kellybeth website:

What do you do with an old or expired credit card or gift card?  Throw it in the trash right? Not Kelly.  The idea came when she was about to throw an old card in the trash, but instead cut it up to make something new.  That something was a pair of earrings.  It started as a basic square no frills design and after many tries with both credit cards and gift cards, the designs called shredz, dotz, cubz, and squarz came to be.

People have been trying to come up with a creative way to keep used credit cards and gift cards out of the landfill for years, and everything from dropping them in the recycling bin to keeping them on hand as emergency windshield scrapers has been suggested. It doesn't take long to see that Kellybeth wins the award for the cutest alternative, however,

But that's not all the Kellybeth founders are after.

"We [Kelly and Katie] want to share our creativity with the world and offer an alternative line of jewelry for the adventurous, fun, trendy, and eco-conscious woman.  We’ve created our business so we can spend time with women and make them feel beautiful simply by creating a product that will be a conversation starter and can be worn with confidence."

Kellybeth earrings and bracelets have been featured at fashion shows all over America, as well as in Shoestring Mag, Vegan Babe, and Works by Nicole Williams.

If you're interested in scoring some of these neat recycled accessories for yourself or a friend, you can always shop at their online store as well.