Heirloom ring rescued from recycling turck
Linda Bode thought she’d never see her wedding band or engagement rings again. She had the rings in cleaning solution in a jar, but inadvertently discarded the jar in a recycling container. by the time she realized this on the morning of Feb. 15 the recycling trucks has beendown her street and collected the items.
This was especially troubling, considering that the diamond engagement ring was 110 years old and a family heirloom that originally belonged to her husbands great aunt.
Bode called the recycling hot line for the Middlesex County Improvement Authority, which oversees curbside recycling. She spoke to a customer services representative who turn contacted the route supervisor. He traced the trucks route and discovered that the driver had completed the route and was headed to colgate New Brunswick to unload.
Slavicek who was in Old Bridge met with Bode, and had her follow him to the Colgate facility. Colgate’s vice president, Steve Dinardi meanwhile, arranged for a special unloading the driver than waited for Slavicek and Bode to arrive.
The truck was taken to a designated area, and it load was tipped over a long distance to make sorting easier.
Salvicek along with recycling manager Ed Windas and Colgate employee began to sift with rake though the material, most of its smashed and squished.
Because recycling routes are scheduled consistently, the group was able to determine that bode’s items would be towards the center.
As the men reembarked on this rather messy task they asked Bode to watch with the hope she might recognize her containers. After 15 to 20 min. Bode saw the Nestle bottles-whose labels-were remover by her daughter for a school project along with 3 empty can from there dinner the night before.
Then sure enough Slavieck located the jar of jewelry cleaner with the rings inside.
“I couldn’t thank them enough.” Bode said, “You can’t replace a ring like this I couldn’t believe that these men were willing to go through the trouble to find the rings.”