New York City sanitation workers dug through 20,000 pounds of garbage to ensure that one man’s trash didn’t also mean the loss of his treasure. A Brooklyn man is breathing a massive sigh of relief after he accidentally threw a pair of priceless family rings in the garbage at a large residenti al building last month. The ring’s owner realized the mistake before the trash was picked up, so he met sanitation workers at the curb on July 28 to explain the predicament, a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Sanitation told TODAY.com in an email statement. The heirloom rings were a gold-and-diamond promise ring and platinum-and-diamond engagement ring that had been in the family for four generations, according to the DSNY. Sanitation workers were able to isolate the truck and slowly dump the nearly 20,000 pounds of trash across a concrete floor to be searched. After only 10 minutes, the rings were found to the relief and joy of the resident, whose name was withheld by the DSNY. “It isn’t exactly a needle in a haystack, but some accidentally discarded rings were dug up!,” the DSNY wrote on Facebook. It isn't exactly a needle in a haystack, but some accidentally discarded rings were dug up!A Brooklyn resident recently realized some irreplaceable heirlooms were accidentally thrown out, and contacted us the second he realized it. With a dumped out truck and a little bit of… pic.twitter.com/vxZMYEu2lH— NYC Sanitation (@NYCSanitation) August 7, 2026 “Can you imagine?” Savannah Guthrie said on TODAY Aug. 10. “Out of the goodness of their hearts being like, ‘I’m going to sift through 20,000 pounds of trash,’ and they found it! Incredible.” The DSNY spokesperson said searches like that happen multiple times a year, and there is a process for them. Any residents who accidentally throw out a valuable item are urged to call 311 as soon as possible. After each call, sanitation workers aim to isolate the truck and slowly dump the contents on a concrete floor to be sifted through. The timeliness of the call is crucial. If a truck has already dumped the trash at a transfer station, there’s no way to recover the lost item because it’s usually immediately mixed with trash from other trucks to be put into a barge or railcar. The resident is allowed to participate in the search for his or her item and can bring one friend to help. The DSNY provides gloves, shovels, pickers and other tools for the search while also sharing possible spots to look. For instance, if the person’s address was at the beginning of the sanitation truck’s route, the material may be more near the back of the truck. The recovery of the Brooklyn man’s rings is the latest success story for the DSNY, which has previously found everything from a wallet to a laptop that had been accidentally tossed out. “Way to go New York City Sanitation,” Craig Melvin said on TODAY. This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY: Chrissy Metz Reveals She’s Taking a GLP-1 Drug — But She Was Skeptical at First This 1 Drink Is More Hydrating Than Water, Dietitian Says Ben Jones, Cooter on ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ and Former Congressman, Dies at 84 ...read more read less