Waste collectors in southern Italy have recovered a winning lottery ticket worth €1 million ($1.15 million) after its owner accidentally discarded it, triggering an exhaustive search through an entire truckload of refuse.
The unnamed woman from Bitonto, a city in the Puglia region, had played her regular Saturday lottery numbers before visiting a local shop on Sunday to verify the result, according to reports from DW News, AFP, and Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
When the lottery terminal displayed the message “non-payable” — a standard notification indicating the prize exceeded the amount redeemable at retail outlets — she misinterpreted the alert as confirmation that the ticket had not won and promptly threw it into a rubbish bin.
Panicked Call Triggers Search
Roberto Nicola Toscano, administrator of waste management company SANB, said the woman later realised her error after a family member recognised that her numbers — 2, 4, 8, 10 and 51 — matched the winning combination. By that time, however, the bin containing the ticket had already been emptied by a garbage truck.
“The winner always played the same numbers, as they were associated with a loved one,” Toscano explained.
Following what he described as a panicked call from the woman, SANB traced the waste collection vehicle’s route, identified the correct truck, and halted it before the refuse could be processed.
Workers Sift Through Waste for Hours
The truck was diverted to a specialised facility, as searching through household waste posed potential safety risks. Workers then spent an entire day meticulously sorting through the rubbish.
Toscano told AFP the ticket was found “miraculously still in one piece.”
Speaking to Corriere della Sera, he acknowledged that the team endured “working in conditions that were anything but pleasant” before successfully locating the winning ticket.
Emotional Reunion
The woman burst into tears upon being informed by telephone that the ticket had been recovered, Toscano said.
He attributed the successful outcome to professionalism, organisation, and a significant measure of luck, emphasising that the recovery could not have been achieved without the “sanitation workers’ efforts.”
Costs to Be Reimbursed
As SANB is a public entity, the cost of the operation would ordinarily be borne by taxpayers. However, Toscano told AFP that the woman had pledged to “cover all of the additional costs.”
