Canadian Man Digs Through 18 Tonnes Of Garbage, Finds Wife’s Lost Wedding Rings

A man from British Columbia, Canada, proved love knows no bounds—not even rotting compost—when he sifted through 18 tonnes of garbage to recover his wife’s lost wedding rings. The man, identified as Steve Van Ysseldyk, decided to embark on the mission after his wife, Jeannine, accidentally lost her rings.

Jeannine lost her rings on Aug. 14 when she mistakenly spilled popcorn into their garden. While cleaning up, her rings fell into the popcorn bag, which ended up in the compost bin. The couple only realised the rings were missing after the compost was collected.

Determined to get them back, Ysseldyk headed to the local dump the next day. "I was pretty optimistic," the BBC quoted Ysseldyk as saying.

Despite his wife's doubts, he believed he could find them. After reviewing his home’s CCTV footage, Ysseldyk identified the exact moment the rings were lost. He also figured out they had been taken to the Mission Sanitary Landfill in British Columbia, which is Canada's westernmost province.

"My wife was very sceptical. I told her, ‘I'll go to the dump tomorrow morning and ask [to search the facility]’," he said.

"And she's like 'they're not gonna let you',”  Ysseldyk recalled his wife’s words, adding that he wanted to give it a shot anyway.

The next day, the staff at the Mission Sanitary Landfill let him search for the rings. It was rainy, which helped reduce the stench. Using a shovel and gloves, the man launched his search for the precious rings.

However, many people at the landfill site were skeptical about Ysseldyk’s chances of finding the rings, according to Canadian news channel CTV News.  

“My brain was trying to figure out a way to tell him to go buy his wife new wedding rings,” contractor Denny Webster told CTV News.

However, Webster helped the search by using an excavator to scoop out waste.

Ysseldyk got lucky after he found some sausages they had discarded, and soon found the first ring. Within an hour, he was able to find both the rings.

He then called Jeannine, who was shopping for a metal detector to help her husband find the wedding rings. 

"Lots of people are amazed by the story. I'm amazed equally as well," Ysseldyk told the BBC.