When Steve Van Ysseldyk showed up at Mission Landfill in the hopes of finding his wife Jeannine's lost wedding rings, contractor Denny Webster had his doubts.
"I was trying to think of a nice way to tell him that I wasn't going to help him, because I didn't think he stood a chance," Webster said.
However, after roughly an hour of sifting through the compost pile, the search turned into a 鈥渄ump miracle鈥�.
鈥淚'm a pretty optimistic guy," Van Ysseldyk said. "I knew what I was looking for [and] what was in my compost. I knew I had a good shot at it. And everything kind of worked in our favour.鈥�
Van Ysseldyk and his wife realized the anniversary and diamond solitaire rings were missing after a dinner last Thursday night (Aug. 14). He said the rings ended up in the compost on Wednesday night (Aug. 13) after a trip to the movies.
鈥淲e retraced our steps and looked at video footage and determined what time they went missing. And inadvertently, they got put in the compost bin and were taken away on Thursday morning," he said.
Popcorn was spilled on the lawn and the ring slipped off and into the bag while Van Ysseldyk鈥檚 wife was picking it up. The bag of popcorn ended up in the compost bin.
Van Ysseldyk said the next step was showing up at Mission Landfill early Friday morning.
Webster, who has been working at Mission Landfill full-time for over four years, said this is the first time in his experience someone has come to the compost area looking for lost valuables.
鈥淗e seemed pretty desperate to make an attempt and find 鈥榚m. So we had to do it. We had to make an effort,鈥� Webster said.
One scoop at a time, Webster used his excavator to spread out the compost so Van Ysseldyk could look for the rings.
A portion of the movie popcorn bag was spotted after roughly an hour, and the rings were found.
鈥淸They] allowed me to look for a needle in a haystack or some rings in a compost. It's truly unbelievable, and I appreciate the time Denny put in and helped me. It's a story that'll live with us forever,鈥� Van Ysseldyk said.
Van Ysseldyk posted to Reddit on Sunday (Aug. 17) detailing an ordeal. The post has over three thousand upvotes on the Vancouver sub-Reddit and has spread across social media platforms as well.
鈥淒enny asked me to give a shout-out to Mission Landfill and it kind of steamrolled from there. It's been exciting 鈥� just kind of different,鈥� he said.
Webster thought it would be a good story for the city.
鈥淚 didn't expect the new crews and everything else. That's for sure 鈥� could have done without, but it's here,鈥� he said.
