Aug. 6 (UPI) -- A waste collection company in Italy came to the assistance of a Bitonto resident who mistakenly threw away a lottery ticket worth $1.15 million.
Roberto Nicola Toscano, director of waste collection company Sanb, said the resident had bought a MillionDay ticket for the July 31 drawing with their usual set of numbers: 2-4-8-10-51.
The person had scanned the ticket at a store and received a message that the ticket was "non-payable," leading them to toss it in the trash.
Toscano said the person only later discovered that their numbers had come up in the drawing, and the "non-payable" message referred to the fact that the prize was too large to collect at the store.
The player's family rushed back to the store, only to discover the trash had already been collected.
The family connected Sanb, which set about identifying the truck that had collected the store's waste.
"Once the vehicle was located, another problem arose: it couldn't be emptied at our premises due to possible waste contamination," Toscano told ANSA. "We contacted a company in the Bari area that could allow us to sort it, and this morning we started searching."
Toscano said employees finally managed to locate the ticket, which was luckily intact inside a torn bag filled with other tickets, many of which were damaged.
"I touched the lucky ticket because maybe it would bring us luck, too," Toscano said.
He said the luck proved real, as he and his employees bought a scratch-off ticket together and wound up winning $57.62.