Melanie Harpe of South Carolina had a lucky break on Monday when her diamond wedding band was unintentionally tossed into a recycling bin and recovered from a nearby recycling plant.
On January 28, an incident happened at Greenville’s Rutherford Road Recycling Center. Harpe’s precious ring had come off as she was disposing of recyclables, causing a brief period of anguish until it was recovered.
Despite being discouraged by the occurrence, she contacted Greenville’s Public Works department via email, as reported by the New York Post.
She wrote, “I understand the chances of finding this are slim to none. If the ring is recovered during the recycling process, please notify me.
Later, city officials stated that Harpe’s misplaced diamond ring had been successfully recovered. On Monday, Public Works personnel went on a treasure quest to find an expensive ring in the recycling container, rather than processing the entire contents.
“Public Works supervisors and litter crew members said, ‘Let’s dump it on the ground and look for it,'” the City of Greenville reported.
Travis Golden, a Public Works employee, recovered the ring “after hours of searching,” according to the city. Golden struck gold. “White gold,” the city wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday, January 30.
On Monday, the City of Greenville reunited Harpe with her misplaced diamond ring. In the Facebook post, the city praised the Public Works staff who played an important role in finding the ring.
Facebook users praised the Public Works team’s diligent work in the comments section.
“Very great! “I hope those gentlemen are treated to a steak dinner,” one Facebook user remarked.
“We absolutely LOVE our Greenville public works department!!” wrote another user.