Image credit: The Byteline

James Howells, a 39-year-old IT worker from Newport, South Wales, is mulling over the purchase of a local landfill site after a staggering £600m worth of Bitcoins were inadvertently discarded by his ex-girlfriend in 2013.

The hard drive containing the cryptocurrency was tossed into a council rubbish tip, and Howells has been on a quest to retrieve it ever since. With Newport City Council set to close and cap the landfill site in the 2025-26 financial year, Howells' window of opportunity to recover his fortune is rapidly closing.

The news of the site's impending closure came as "quite a surprise" to Howells, who had recently lost a legal battle to gain permission to search the landfill or claim £495m in compensation. Judge Keyser KC dismissed the case, stating there was "no realistic prospect of succeeding" if it went to trial, according to The Guardian.

READ MORE: UK judge dismisses bid for $770M Bitcoin landfill hunt

Howells criticized the council for planning to close the site while arguing in court that allowing a search would detrimentally impact the local community. He expressed openness to buying the landfill "as is," stating he has discussed this possibility with investment partners.

This unusual saga continues to unfold, blending the high stakes of cryptocurrency with the mundane reality of waste management, highlighting the extraordinary lengths one might go to recover what could be one of the most valuable pieces of trash in history.

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