He accidentally threw away his wife’s diamond rings. Then he found them in 20 tons of waste.
– It really was the needle in the haystack, says American Kevin Butler (57), who started walking when he found out what he’d been doing: throwing both his wedding ring and his engagement ring in the trash.
The wife had cleaned her diamond rings earlier in the day and placed them in a napkin on the kitchen counter.
When her husband had to wash the dishes shortly after, he tossed the folded napkin in the trash, unaware of the values inside, she says ap.
Impossible task
But when his wife Cindy started stressing around the house looking for the rings, her husband of 32 years had a bad idea. He must have thrown them.
Where the couple live, in Windham, New Hampshire, families can choose whether to collect trash for a fee or to deliver the trash bags themselves. Butler, who runs his own engineering services firm, had delivered the household waste himself that day.
Three hours after unknowingly throwing out the trash, he was back at the Windham garbage disposal.
But in 20 tons of trash, finding the plastic bag was an impossible feat, Butler thought.
– Couldn’t have picked a worse day, general manager Dennis Senibaldi told the junkyard. Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest days at the landfill, when garbage bags are pouring in.
Traces of celeriac
It was then that Senibaldi had the idea: they could watch the surveillance video. If they had seen where Butler had tossed the bags, they could have narrowed their search.
And rightly so. Several employees jumped into the task, and with the help of digging hands and a tractor, Butler suddenly glimpsed a bag with celeriac sticking out.
Upon closer inspection, she recognized the yogurt pots from the breakfast.
And there, under some sweet potato peels, were two diamond rings totaling 2.5 carats.
– His wife was ecstatic, he tells the news agency.
Relieved, he was able to thank the helpful garbage disposal workers, and as they refused to accept the prospector’s pay, he sent pizzas as a thank you.
