Sanitation workers in New York City have found two lost heirloom rings after sorting through a 20,000-pound mountain of trash.
The two workers were all smiles in photos posted by the Sanitation Department on Friday, announcing the remarkable discovery on July 28.
A Brooklyn resident quickly called the department for help after realizing that the two “irreplaceable” rings accidentally got thrown out, the Sanitation Department wrote on Facebook.
The rings had been thrown into a large container at an apartment complex, Sanitation Department Spokesperson Joshua Goodman told Fox 5 New York. He explained that the resident who lost the ring flagged down the workers at the curb, and the department was able to pull the garbage truck and search through it.
“With a dumped out truck and a little bit of luck, the rings were found. We love a success story!” the department said in its Facebook post.
open image in gallery
open image in galleryOne of the photos the department posted showed a mountain of trash. Another showed the dug-up rings in someone’s hand.
The heirlooms were described in reports as a gold and diamond promise ring and a four-generation platinum and diamond engagement ring.
Despite the search being likened to finding a needle in a haystack, the workers found the rings within just 10 minutes of sorting through trash at a waste management facility, the Sanitation Department told the New York Post.
Sanitation workers don’t typically help in the physical search for lost items, but rather the department provides access to facilities and gear, according to the Post. The department has not explained why the workers were involved in this particular search.
“In every one of these cases, when we get the call, we attempt to isolate the truck, arrange a time for the search, and then we slowly dump the contents — up to 20,000 pounds of trash — across a concrete tipping floor,” a department spokesperson told The Independent.
open image in gallery“A resident doing one of these searches can bring one friend — usually a very good friend, given the task at hand! We give residents gloves, shovels, pickers and other tools,” the department spokesperson who spoke to The Independent said.
When this happens, Goodman said, the resident and their friend have 90 minutes to sort through the trash together. Residents have found everything from wallets to laptops while rummaging through the garbage.
One New Yorker praised the workers who found the rings for “going above and beyond,” telling Fox 5 that they are “really giving back to the city.”
“It’s pretty amazing,” another local said. “There’s so much trash there. I don’t know how they could’ve found that in a million years.”
New York City residents are urged to call 311 as soon as they accidentally throw out a valuable item.