LONDON — When a British couple dropped off a few boxes at a waste and recycling center after clearing out the house of a dead relative a few weeks ago, they drove off with no idea what they had really left behind.

Tucked away inside one of the boxes was 15,000 pounds in cash — nearly $20,000.

Luckily for the pair, according to a statement released by the police on Friday, a hawk-eyed — and honest — employee at the waste center helped ensure that the money made its way back to them.

When the team at the recycling center, at Midsomer Norton in southwestern England, suddenly found themselves with the unexplained box brimming with hundreds of £20 notes in a place where garden waste and broken furniture and electrical items are the usual fare, they started by calling the police.

Then, with the help of technology and a little ingenuity, they tracked down the couple who had unwittingly left the money behind, who turned out to live 27 miles away in the coastal town of Burnham-on-Sea.