Just had someone in the IRC channel today who mined... 7500BTC....
and then threw the hard drive away.
We encouraged him to take a trip to the landfill and see if he could find it, maybe hire someone(s) to help him. He said he's going to make a few calls.
I felt so bad for him. That's $6 million and counting.
edit: He popped back into IRC this morning. He went to the "recycling centre" and they showed him around. The hard drive, if it was there, would be buried under around 4 feet of mud and waste, in an area the size of a soccer field. The cost of closing the centre, hiring diggers, and searching for it would be too high, and then the chances of finding it are still not excellent.
He's based in Newport, in South Wales, United Kingdom.
edit2.1: Also the hard drive was thrown away with the Dell caddy still attached. It came from a 2006 Dell XPS M1710 laptop.
edit2.2: Newport Waste Management Strategy [en] [cym] [.pdf]
Newport City Council Sustainable Waste Plan [en] [.pdf]
<howelzy_> so for anyone interested or with resources and manpower to search there is a laptop hdd with 7500 bit coin buried under 3/4 ft of mud/waste located at [the coordinates] 51° 33.858', -2° 59.863' .... happy hunting
own link
edit2.3: Also usually only police are allowed to search the site for evidence and such. But, under the circumstances, a deal can probably be made with the council.
edit3: Also be careful of landfill sites, they are not safe. Many times they contain bio-waste and used needles. You would need to also invest in protective clothing. And you might need to search the whole site and collect all the drives found.