Shoe box stuffed with $22k returned after accidentally being recycled

A shoe box stuffed with more than $22,000 dollars was accidentally recycled in Oregon then miraculously returned to its owner after traveling more than 200 miles to California.

A man in Ashland, Oregon, said his wife placed the shoe box on the curb without looking inside on Aug. 1.

That's when the phone calls started, and they luckily paid off - literally.

The man made a call to his recycling company, Recology, and discovered the box traveled all the way to Samoa, California, at one of the company's center.

"I was working on the line, pulling off cardboard to be recycled when I suddenly saw some big stacks of $20 bills," Recology Humboldt County Nick Page said. "Honestly, it's probably the largest amount of money I've ever personally gotten to handle."

An official said most of the money was recovered.