An Oregon man thought that he was out $23,000 after one of his family members dropped a shoebox he was using to store the cash into the curbside recycling bin outside his home. The man, who has not been identified, had recently sold his RV and truck and planned to use the money to purchase a new RV.
When he realized that the recycling had already been picked up, he frantically called the company hoping they could track down the truck. By the time he spoke with a representative at Recology, the truck had already arrived at a sorting facility 200 miles away in California.
Linda Wise, the general manager of the Recology recycling plant, told him that they would do their best to find the shoebox. She was not hopeful they would find the money because each truck can hold up to 22 tons of recycling and they receive about one hundred tons each day.
The man had luck on his side because the next day, an employee noticed piles of $20 bills as he was sorting through the cardboard. He collected all the money and brought it to his supervisor.
"He calmly put it all together... and walked it to his boss, and said 'Here's the money that guy was looking for,'" Wise said.
Wise contacted the man and gave him the good news. He made the four-hour drive to retrieve his money and was happy they managed to find the cash. He tried to offer a reward to the employees, but they refused to accept it.
"Everyone's consensus was it was the right thing to do," Wise said. "Everybody was beaming, just happy that they were able to do something like that for him."
Photo: Recology