A holiday cell-ebration: Waste and 311 team up to retrieve lost phone

Do you believe in Christmas miracles? 

Peter Danielson was running behind last Thursday morning. He was still disassembling cardboard boxes to add to his blue cart when he noticed the collection truck approaching. In a frantic rush, Peter grabbed a big load of cardboard, dumped it into the cart and rolled it to its pick-up spot, just in the nick of time. The truck drove off, and Peter carried on with his morning. 

Until he noticed something. His iPhone was missing. 

“About an hour later I was thinking, ‘Where’s my phone?’ Because it usually rings,” says Peter. “I walked up and down the block, everywhere that I went that morning, and I couldn’t find it.” 

Then, he remembered. While he was racing to place his cart out for collection, he accidentally threw his cell phone in with his recyclables. 

“I had my phone in my hand when I picked up all the cardboard and put it into the cart. It’s the only other place I was all morning. It’s got to be in that truck.” 

Right away, Peter picked up his landline and called 311. He explained his situation to Julie, a customer service specialist, who agreed to do her best to help. 

“I said, ‘Really? You’re going to look through a garbage truck for a little phone?’ She took my number and said she would call me back right away.” 

Julie quickly got on phone with the Collections team, who acted fast to divert the truck working in Peter’s area and get it to the Waste & Recycling Centre to minimize the amount of material there would be to sift through. 

“Our foreman called us and explained the plan and that the truck was almost here,” says Murilo Marques, Waste & Recycling Coordinator for City of Lethbridge Waste & Environment. “We had five minutes to clear the sorting facility floor.” 

Peter arrived on site shortly after the truck stopped to deposit its load, which was a little over half capacity. His jaw dropped when he saw the mountain of material facing him.

“There was this huge pile of recycling in front of me, and I thought to myself, ‘How are we supposed to find anything in that?’ It was like walking around in a jungle,” says Peter. 

“We had all hands on deck looking for it,” says Murilo. “The only detail we knew was that it had an orange case.” 

Murilo tried calling the phone, but it didn’t ring. After nearly an hour of searching, Peter made plans to meet a friend at the store, buy a new phone and cut his losses. 

“It’s one thing to lose the phone, but all your information is gone with it. Photos, videos, everything.”  

Peter thanked everyone for their help and left, but the staff didn’t give up. As a last resort, they picked up the entire load to run it through the sorting conveyor.

And that’s when it happened. 

“One of our sorters, Krista, saw the orange case on the conveyor and grabbed it,” says Murilo. “The phone wasn't damaged at all either. We’ve been calling it a Christmas miracle.” 

Peter was thrilled when he heard the good news. 

“They called me saying they found it and I just couldn’t believe it. I lost it in the morning and had it back before lunchtime. I was pretty excited,” says Peter. “He even told me he was on his way downtown near my house and would drop it off for me.” 

“What really made this a success was the communication and teamwork of everyone involved,” says Murilo. “Our 311 team called the Collections team, who called the Waste & Recycling Centre, who all teamed up to find and return the lost phone.” 

Reunited with his phone in time for the holidays, Peter says he can’t thank the City staff enough for their commitment to helping him. 

"I want to celebrate everyone who helped me. They all deserve credit for this and I’m just so happy.”

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