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Many cultures teach us the value of letting nothing go to waste, like Native Americans with the sacred buffalo, or some other culture that certainly must exist. Making the most even out of garbage: Refinding.

Based in Kansas City, Refinding peddles unique goods cobbled out of tires, tennis balls, antique typewriters, and other left-for-dead items (because if actor-cum-director Ben Affleck can be resurrected, why not a bent spork?). Hot items include semi-tire backpacks; Chuck Taylor-outsole bracelets; and road-cone-strapped watches, so highway workers will know it's time to go on break. Perhaps the most intricately constructed are the accessories that marry laminated trading cards to heavy nylon: billfolds and belts featuring the Hulk TV show, the Superman movies, and an A-Team number that'll make you the envy of pitiable fools everywhere.

For the spring, the Refinders are working on bigger projects, like gas-can lamps, tire-tread rugs, and headboards/coffee tables made from street signs -- which they felt obligated to utilize after discovering them wastefully abandoned on poles planted just ahead of dangerous curves.

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Check out the goods at Refinding.com