BRIEF NEWS: Grandmother Inadvertently Recycles Cash Savings

12 July 2011

A grandmother who accidentally put an envelope with more than £1,000 in cash in her recycling box has thanked staff from Hills Waste Solutions who recovered it for her

Ann Honour, from Chippenham in Wiltshire, had placed the envelope containing £1,017 to pay for building work next to a pile of newspapers she wanted to recycle. By accident she scooped it up with the papers and placed into her kerbside recycling bin. It was only after her kerbside box had been cleared by Hills staff that she realised the money was gone.

Mrs Honour called the Waste Solutions helpdesk and the vehicle was recalled to the materials recycling facility at Lower Compton, Wiltshire. On arrival the paper was tipped out and half a dozen Waste Solutions staff painstakingly searched through the pile of paper for the A4 size envelope that she had described.

In the end it was the driver of the collection lorry who discovered the envelope with the money inside. Adele Clark, kerbside supervisor, went round to Mrs Honour's house to return the money. From the first call to handing the money back little more than 90 minutes had elapsed.

Mrs Honour said: "To be honest I thought I had no chance, but I rang the help number and they said they would have a look. I was absolutely delighted when they lady called round with my envelope.

"I did give Hills a card to say thank you, which they accepted, and a reward, which they said they could not."

A spokesman for Hills said: "We're really pleased to have been able to help out. This kind of request doesn't come very often, though previously we have had everything from passports to cruise tickets accidentally put out for recycling which we've managed to recover.

"We're delighted Mrs Honour hasn't found herself out of pocket."