Sanitation workers recover $100,000 worth of jewelry from landfill

March 14 (UPI) -- Waste disposal officials in a Georgia county said timing was key in the recovery of $100,000 worth of jewelry accidentally thrown in the trash by a local woman.

Hall County Solid Waste Director Johnnie Vickers said the county's Candler Road Landfill received a call March 9 from a local woman who reported $100,000 worth of jewelry had accidentally been thrown away and carried off by garbage collectors.

Vickers said the team of five employees working to sift through the hauled trash had only one clue to go on -- the precious items were in a black bag.

"We're looking for diamonds. We're looking for a bracelet; looking for some rings," Vickers told WSB-TV.

Vickers said they were able to examine logs and narrow the search down to about 9-10 tons of trash that had arrived within a 20-minute window.

"We try to treat it just like if we had lost it," Vickers said.

He said it took several hours of searching to find the right bag.

"We reached down and picked up one last bag," Vickers said. "He said, 'Looky there, looky there, praise Jesus!'"

Vickers said the woman had called just in time to stop the bag from bring dumped at the face of landfill, making its recovery essentially impossible.

"Just depends on timing. Timing is everything in this game to recover something," Vickers said.