NBC NEWS — We've all accidentally thrown something valuable away in the trash, but what if that something was worth more than $10,000?
Would you swim in a pile of waste to find it?
One Margate, Florida man was faced with that conundrum and he didn't think twice.
"The worst move of my life, horrible," is how Brian McGuinn says he felt when he realized he had thrown out his wife's engagement ring.
McGuinn meant to throw out a disposable razor, and ended up chucking out the ring with it.
The one and a half carat diamond ring was valued at around $10,000, and worth its weight in sentimental value.
He and his wife Anna have been married five years, and are now expecting a child.
"I just started crying and I would stop crying, and remind myself that jewelry is replaceable," says Anna.
By the time they realized what happened, Waste Management had already picked up the trash from their community.
Devastated, Anna called Wheelabrator--the waste management company, and within an hour, McGuinn was suited up, ready to jump into more than eight tons of garbage.
Workers were able to identify the garbage from McGuinn's collection route, they even leveled the 10-foot high pile so that he could search for the ring.
After sifting through sludge, gunk, food scraps, and anything else you'd find in a dumpster, he found his diamond in the rough.
"Once I found it, I actually let out a manly scream!," says McGuinn, who describes the moment of finding his wife's bling amongst the garbage as winning the lottery.
He rushed home to return the ring to its rightful owner.
"It was covered in muck. He just slipped it right on my finger and promised to never touch it again," joked Anna.
She says she's so appreciative of her husband's uniquely chivalrous move. McGuinn says he wouldn't think twice to search through the garbage again.
"She's the love of my life. That ring was meant for her and no one else," he said. "She's everything to me."