If it wasn’t for a trash company worker going the extra mile, the $400,000 wedding ring that Missouri man Bernie Squitieri gave his wife 25 years ago would now be in a radioactive waste site instead of on her finger.

Squitieri accidentally tossed the 12.5-carat ring in the trash after it was left in paper towels on the kitchen counter Sunday night. When his wife, Carla, noticed it was missing on Monday, they realized it had been thrown out — and they were told it was on its way to a landfill site that also handles radioactive waste. They convinced Meridian Waste Services to divert the truck to another site, where they faced the daunting task of combing through 10 tons of garbage for the ring.

Joe Evans, the operations manager who drove to the site to help the Squitieris search said, “My first thought was we’re never going to find it. It was like finding a needle in a haystack basically.” But amazingly, Evans managed to find the ring within 25 minutes and return it to an extremely relieved couple. Mr. Squiteri noted, “He could’ve put the ring in his pocket and nobody would’ve ever noticed. It gave my wife a really good feeling and it’s nice to know that there’s still good people out there.”