Refuse collectors help Italian woman recover binned €1m lottery ticket

A €1 million lottery ticket has been retrieved from the trash in Italy after the fortunate winner contacted waste management workers for assistance. Roberto Nicola Toscano, the administrator of the SANB company in Italy's southern Puglia region, stated that the winning ticket was "miraculously still in one piece" despite being discarded with other rubbish.

Upon visiting her local store on Sunday to check her ticket, the woman discovered that the instant win ticket was classified as "non-payable" because smaller retailers can only redeem smaller prizes. Unaware that she had won the grand jackpot, she went home and informed a family member that her usual numbers had won. The family member quickly retraced their steps to the store, only to find that the ticket had already been collected by waste management.

"We had little hope of finding it, as it had already been picked up by a garbage truck," Toscano shared. However, through perseverance, they managed to identify the correct garbage lorry and pulled it over. Due to potential hazards in the waste, they transported the vehicle to a specialized facility capable of conducting the search.

Over the course of a day, they sifted through numerous tickets and ticket stubs, eventually locating the stub they were searching for, which remained in excellent condition. Toscano expressed the winner's emotional reaction upon learning of their success, saying, "she cried with emotion." The waste management company, being a public agency, would have incurred the expenses for the search, but Toscano revealed that the woman had to sign a contract agreeing to cover the additional costs – a bold move that ultimately proved worthwhile.