Quick-thinking waste workers have retrieved some treasure from the trash.
Noosa Council waste staff and two Cleanaway workers saved the day for a Logan woman, whose belongings were accidentally thrown into a public rubbish bin at Peregian Beach.
Michael Shannon and Carl Pay spent about 20 minutes digging through the contents of a garbage truck to find an orange cooler bag, containing a wallet and car keys.
The woman’s belongings were noticed missing after a group of work friends returned from a night out at the Pizzani Pizza restaurant at Peregian Beach.
Logan cafe owner Kylie Lowery had hired a 12-seater bus to bring staff to her friend’s popular eatery for a celebration.
“Prior to the trip home, my husband cleaned out the bus and because it was dark, mistakenly threw out the cooler bag with other rubbish such as bottles, wrappers and cans into the public kerbside bin near the restaurant, she said.
“We didn’t realise it had been thrown out until we had driven 110km and arrived back in Logan that night, and one of my workers asked where her cooler bag was.
“I was horrified, so I got my friend to check the bin in Peregian Beach first thing the next morning, but it had already been emptied.”
A frantic Kylie contacted Noosa Council Customer Service and spoke to operator Dawn Oliver, who quickly passed the information to waste administration officer Juli Hoven.
Cleanaway was notified and jumped into action to see if the truck’s contents could be checked.
Cleanaway Operations Supervisor Michael Shannon said the driver was on his break and hadn’t emptied his truck, luckily.
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“It was one of the last bins emptied on his run, so we tipped out about a third of the truck’s contents at the Resource Recovery Centre and sifted through the rubbish and miraculously found the orange cooler bag,” he said.
“The bag was open, a bit smelly and slimy, but fortunately the wallet and keys weren’t too far away in the garbage so we managed to retrieve everything.”
All the planets had aligned for Kylie and her distraught husband, who were able to return the keys and wallet to their owner.
“These guys are certainly employees of the month,” Kylie said.
“Those two guys are awesome, and it is not something you would see a lot (of people) do, to go out of their way for a complete stranger.
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“The whole experience was so pleasant, the council staff were so nice and accommodating,
“We’re so appreciative of them going above and beyond for us.”
Cleanaway Manager Garry Williamson praised the efforts of his staff.
“This is more the exception rather than the rule when something is accidentally dropped into a public bin, but I am tremendously proud of the quick response and efforts of Michael and Carl,” he said.
