Italian waste crew recovers €1 million lottery ticket

A winning lottery ticket worth one million euros was recovered from a garbage truck in southern Italy this week after an anonymous woman, believing it was worthless, had thrown it away. The successful search, which involved waste management workers combing through mounds of trash for over a day, culminated on Tuesday, August -4, when the intact ticket stub was found.

The incident began on Sunday, August 2, when the woman checked her instant-win ticket at a local shop in the Puglia region following the drawing. The retailer's validation machine indicated the ticket was "nonpayable," a common occurrence as smaller shops can only redeem minor prizes. Unaware she had won the top jackpot, the woman discarded the ticket and returned home. There, a family member informed her that her regular set of numbers, which she always played because they were associated with a loved one, had in fact won the million-euro prize.

The woman and her relative rushed back to the store, only to discover the ticket had already been thrown out and the trash collected. In a panic, she contacted Roberto Nicola Toscano, the administrator of the local public waste management company SANB. Toscano explained...