A man and two workers spent hours searching through bin bags at a council tip after his wife mistakenly put her engagement ring in the bin.
Craig Carter was despatched to the Monmouthshire tip after his wife Joanne Carter, from Caldicot, made the blunder during a clear out on Saturday, October 12.
Incredibly, with the help of two workers at the recycling centre, he found it.
Joanne said: "I chucked an old pot forgetting the ring was inside. I realised what I had done that evening and was devastated."
The 35-year-old said the ring had huge sentimental value and wasn't insured so she sent husband Craig to Five Lanes recycling centre in Monmouthshire to try and find the ring.
There site manager Rhys Lloyd and plant driver Darren Bill proved they had hearts of gold.
When Darren turned up at 9.15am on Sunday morning, they dropped everything to trawl through five tonnes of rubbish to find it.
"It was only by chance we found it," said site manager Rhys Lloyd.
"He's a very happy man. If his missus doesn't take him out for dinner tonight, there's something wrong with her."
Video: Rhys and Darren talk about their search for the ring
In a statement on Facebook, Monmouthshire council said they spent four hours trawling through hundreds of bags.
Joanne said they had trawled through hundreds of bags.
She said: "I was over the moon when they found it, I burst into tears.
"I didn’t think in a million years that they would find it. It’s so tiny in comparison to the huge skip."
Joanne then when back to the tip on Sunday, October 13, to say thank you to Rhys and Darren.
"I personally went back with a thank you card, a voucher for a meal for their family, a box of beers and a scratch card each with a note attached saying 'I hope your luck is as good as mine'.
"I told them that they are my heroes and that the world needs more Darren and Rhys'.
"They went above and beyond their roll to do that for me. What an amazing community we live in. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to these true gents," she added.
