Sanitation workers help man sift through dozens of bags of trash to find his wallet

Kristine Solomon
Avrohom Levitt was worried he’d lost his wallet for good, but the New York Sanitation Department came to the rescue. (Photo: Courtesy of Twitter/New York Department of Sanitation)
Avrohom Levitt was worried he’d lost his wallet for good, but the New York Sanitation Department came to the rescue. (Photo: Courtesy of Twitter/New York Department of Sanitation)

It was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it. A Queens man who accidentally threw his wallet in the garbage got a pick-me-up from New York’s Strongest when the sanitation workers held a truck on its way to the dumpster — then helped him dig through 20 to 30 bags of trash until they found it.

Avrohom Levitt was celebrating Purim on Friday on Manhattan’s Upper West Side when his wallet fell into a shopping bag in his car. He later threw the bag in the trash, accidentally disposing of the wallet and everything inside of it: $68 dollars in cash plus credit cards and his toddler’s passport card, which he needed for an upcoming trip to Poland on Tuesday.

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Levitt, a real estate broker, admitted to the New York Post that he tends to be absent-minded and lose things, so it was no surprise when he realized he’d lost his wallet. He managed to be good-natured about the predicament, though. “I felt disappointed and upset,” he said, “but at the same time I was trying to work on myself to have more faith and have a positive attitude.”

In fact, Levitt had good reason to have faith. He knows himself so well that he actually installed a tracking device in his wallet as a safeguard for this very scenario. But it didn’t seem to be working, so Levitt contacted the Department of Sanitation by calling 311 — and did so just in the nick of time. Sanitation workers agreed to hang onto the garbage truck they had reason to believe contained the wallet. Then, Levitt met them — and the truck — at the dump in Newark, N.J.

As Levitt got closer, he tried to get the tracking device to sync up to an app on his phone, but it still wasn’t working. So sanitation workers knew they’d have to get their hands dirty, and proceeded to remove each bag from the truck, one by one, and help Levitt root through them for the wallet. In total, they emptied the contents of up to 30 trash bags that were dumpster-ready.

Finally, Levitt was able to locate and fish out his wallet and all the personal items he feared he’d lost.

“We were literally on a pile of refuse and God lifted us up,” Levitt told the Post. “I felt so excited I couldn’t believe it.”

Levitt also felt, well, filthy. So he said he rushed off — not to the shower, but to Neiman Marcus in the Garden State Plaza Mall to spray himself with Creed Aventus cologne.

“I literally sprayed my whole body up,” he said, though he admitted his wallet still smells like the city dump.

The rancid experience not only restored Levitt’s valuables, though — it also restored his faith in humanity and helped him step into the shoes of the people who sift through garbage every day to keep the city clean.

“I have a tremendous feeling of appreciation to everyone who was part of this,” he said. “They are the kindest and sweetest. Everyone was so kind and cheerful.”

He called his interactions with sanitation workers “such a positive experience” and said the experience gave him “a whole new appreciation” for them.

For their part, the Department of Sanitation said it was “our pleasure to assist” Levitt, who they called a “lucky man.” Sanitation workers say instead of calling 311, residents can also visit the official website of the City of New York to report items lost in the trash.

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