Cash in the trash: Northern California recycler finds Oregon man’s life savings among recyclables

Friday was a lucky day for one Ashland, Oregon, man who accidentally chucked his life savings.

Staff at Recology Humboldt County were able to recover the roughly $23,000 the man kept in a shoebox he accidentally recycled at the Samoa Resource Recovery Center around 7:15 in the morning.

“It’s not the first time I’ve heard about someone losing something valuable in the trash or recycling that we’ve been able to recover,” said Linda Wise, general manager of Recology Humboldt County. “But it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

Recology Humboldt had been contacted by Recology Ashland, which is among the many places that sends its recycling to the Samoa recycling facility, after someone “had mistakenly thrown out a shoebox full of their life savings up there and were frantically looking for it,” Wise said.

By the time he contacted Recology Ashland, the recyclables had already left for Samoa. So the man called the Samoa facility and told them he lost the money and it could be in the load from Ashland, which Wise said usually arrives on Thursday.

Wise said the staff was informed to keep an eye out for the money when sorting through the 22 tons of mixed recycling.

“Then this morning, it showed up,” Wise said.

The Ashland man will be coming to Eureka to get the money from the facility Saturday morning. Until that time, Wise said they’re keeping the money in a very secure location.

The money could have easily ended up going into the baler if staff weren’t keeping an eye out for it, Wise said. The shoebox was in a load full of paper, which usually “just goes into the baler,” she said.

“If we weren’t keeping an eye out for it, it could’ve easily gotten lost,” Wise said. “In this case, we were able to recover it for him. So that’s good news.”

Sonia Waraich can be reached at 707-441-0506.