Sanitation workers in Massachusetts saved the day when they managed to recover a lost diamond that fell out of a ring and into the trash.
An unnamed woman from Watertown had got herself into “a very messy predicament” while tossing out garbage at the weekend, Watertown City said.
Some time later, the woman noticed that the sparkling diamond set in a cherished family heirloom she was wearing was missing.
After retracing her steps, the woman realized there was only place she hadn’t searched: a sidewalk recycling compactor.
The panicked woman called the city’s non-emergency line 311 “hoping for a miracle (and a way to open the Big Belly),” officials said.
“You could definitely tell that she was panicked. The odds of finding the stone were extremely small,” city worker Laura Murray, who took the 311 call, told WCVB.
The woman was transferred to the recycling center where Watertown’s Recycling Program manager Matt Bacon took charge of the special mission.
Bacon dove into the giant trash can and, miraculously, managed to find the precious diamond after only 15 minutes of digging.
“It was pretty deep in there. I did throw out my gloves afterward, a lot of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. But yeah, it was just loose in there,” Bacon told the outlet.
“He sat on the sidewalk next to me so he could help me scan the piles of garbage,” Murray recalled. “When he said ‘there it is’ I was stunned. I hugged him so hard he almost fell over.”
Bacon described the emotional moment when the owner was reunited with her family jewel. “She was elated. Understandably. She gave me a big hug and was jumping up and down,” he said.
Watertown City praised Bacon “for turning trash into treasure and proving our Recycling Program Manager really knows how to rock!”
