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A relieved DIY fan has been reunited with his precious power tools after he hid them in his wheelie bin while he took a break – forgetting it was collection day.
The Erewash resident phoned the local recycling centre in a panic after he returned to find three drills worth hundreds of pounds had been emptied into a council garden waste lorry.
The civic-minded gent was also frantic because the tools had been left in a brown bin meant for green waste – and he rightly feared all the recycling would be contaminated.
Staff at the Ilkeston recycling centre rushed to alert the site where the borough council takes its waste. Stanton Recycling Ltd in Ilkeston’s Crompton Road are contracted to handle it.
The firm identified which lorry had visited the man’s home in Long Eaton, then set to work painstakingly sifting through ten tonnes of green waste.
Two of the drills were recovered but sadly, the third was not located.
The resident, who at the start of this year grabbed the council’s £20 early bird offer to keep getting garden waste collected, was overjoyed to get most of his tools back.
A member of staff at the recycling company said: “The resident was distraught over his mistake. We were happy to help him out. He even offered the firm a reward – which was politely refused.”