TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The New Taipei Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) reported that its cleaning teams received reports of 596 items falling into sewage grates last year.

According to an EPB press release on Monday (June 3), the top five items lost in sewers were keys (53%), Bluetooth earbuds or headsets (31%), mobile phones (5%), cards (4%), and rings (1%). Should the public lose items down drainage grates, they can call the 1999 citizen service hotline or contact local sanitation crews for help.

On May 27, a Xizhi District sanitation team received a report from a woman surnamed Kao (高) that after exiting a bus, one of her Airpods fell from her ear and into a nearby sewer. After being contacted, a member of the sanitation crew went to the scene and was able to retrieve it. 

A few days later, on May 30, a woman surnamed Chang (張) was walking on Shoude Street in Zhonghe District when she accidentally dropped her entire set of keys through a sewer grate. She immediately requested the assistance of a local sanitation team, which pried open the sewer grate and retrieved her keys.

The EPB said that one citizen reported losing a diamond ring in the sewer. Sanitation crews pried open two heavy ditch covers and carefully sifted through mud and silt to recover the ring.

The owner was happy they were able to find it. She said the diamond ring held special memories and was grateful to the city's sanitation workers.