A man who accidentally tossed $23,000 (A$34,000) into the recycling bin reunited with his life savings Saturday after a worker at a recycling facility in Northern California spotted a shoebox stuffed with money.

When the man from Ashland, Oregon, realised his mistake on Thursday, the recycling bin had already been emptied into a truck bound for the Recology sorting facility in Humboldt County.

The facility's general manager told the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat most of the recyclables from the truck had been sorted by the time the man contacted Recology. Workers were nonetheless told to be on the lookout for the box.

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Someone spotted the box down the sorting line Friday and recovered all but $320 ($473). The money somehow stayed in the box during the 200-mile trip to the facility.