MADISON, Wis. -- A garbage truck operator is being hailed as a hero for finding $10,000 worth of diamonds that had accidentally been thrown away.

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"We got a call from a customer that had some earrings in the garbage," said front-load truck operator Ron Lund.

At Pellitteri Waste, those types of calls come in about once a month.

But these were no average earrings. They were $10,000 diamond earrings from a local jewelry store, WISC-TV reported.

"I'm thinking, 'No way, I'll never find them,'" said Lund. "I told them, 'Good Luck,'" he laughed.

On his route, Lund picks up garbage from more than 130 businesses, including the jeweler.

"I was thinking, 'Little diamonds versus 30,000 pounds of garbage,'" said Lund. "No way."

But, those little diamonds got him looking.

"I kind of knew where the store was on the load," said Lund. "So I drove forward to lay it out."

And the digging began.

"I grabbed a bag and started looking in there and that's where I found them," said Lund. "I found one first then I thought the other's got to be in the bag, and I found the other one."

It took him a total of eight minutes.

"I was just surprised I found them," said Lund. "I'm surprised anybody would find them."

The business owner gave him an $80 reward.

Lund said that he decided to try his luck again.

"I already spent it," he said. "I went and bought Powerball tickets. I figure I found the earrings, I'll buy the tickets and maybe I'll get lucky."

Lund also admitted he once dumped all his keys into the garbage, and was lucky enough to find them, too.