$100,000 too good to waste

Published on 10 October 2018

City of Swan staff found themselves in an extraordinary situation when a resident mistakenly binned a bag containing $100,000 in cash.

The resident called the City’s customer service centre to report that a bag containing a substantial amount of money had been accidentally thrown away by their partner; and to make matters worse, the resident’s refuse bin had been emptied that morning. 

The City’s customer services team immediately notified the waste services team, who managed to track down and notify the refuse truck driver in time before he reached the tip.

The driver quickly returned to the City’s waste depot, where a team of staff gathered to empty the entire truck and sift through piles of rubbish for more than an hour.

Unable to locate the lost money, staff loaded the rubbish back into the truck, until the resident arrived to revive the search.

Along with the hopeful resident, staff emptied the truck for a second time and managed to recover the lost bounty.

City of Swan CEO Mike Foley said in his 36 years as a City employee, he had never come across anything so remarkable.

“The City often receives requests to find valuable items lost in the trash – in the past we’ve received reports of lost wedding rings, war medals, purses and phones,” he said.

“It’s not every day that $100,000 is found in a pile of rubbish; in fact, this is the only reported lost valuable we’ve ever recovered from refuse.

“To isolate the truck carrying the lost money and notify the driver in time is quite a remarkable feat, and a testament to the hard work of our staff.

“I’m extremely proud of the team who went above and beyond to help this resident in an extremely unfamiliar situation.”

The resident, who wishes to keep their identity anonymous, was very grateful for the efforts of all staff involved.