(Photo: Thepaper)

Han Daping, a sanitation worker in Yuhuan City in the Zhejiang Province, used his wits to recover a 1-carat diamond ring valued at 60,000 yuan (roughly $10,000) which a woman had inadvertently dropped in a trash can, Thepaper reported. 

Han used the light on his mobile phone and the process of elimination to narrow down his search. “It’s not only diamond rings. Even if it’s other small things, we will try our best to find them,” he later said. 

56-year-old Han is the head of Yuhuan City Appearance and Environment Sanitation Co., Ltd.'s garbage compression and transportation team. He has been in the sanitation business for 27 years. 

In the early hours of June 19 Han received a call requesting assistance in finding a missing diamond ring that has been accidentally thrown in the trash the day prior. By late evening of that same day, Han had found Wu’s ring in a plastic bag amidst twenty tons of garbage. 

Wu was very appreciative.  On June 22, she went to the city's sanitation company and left a Thank-You banner for Han. “In fact, this is not the only example in the business. There are fellow workers who often help residents find all sorts of lost items in the landfill, not just jewelry,” Han said in a comment.