According to the police, the bills were all 10,000-yen notes and they were unwrapped at the time of discovery. The police station is looking for the owner of the cash, categorized as a "high-value found article." If the rightful owner does not come forward over the three-month period that started 30 January, when the police received the report on the find, the cash will be handed over to the Sapporo Municipal Government, which contracts out the recycling work to the facility. The recycling centre collects magazines and other recyclable waste from households and other places in Sapporo. The case followed a similar incident in the prefecture in 2012, in which 10 million yen in cash was found at a waste disposal facility in the city of Sunagawa. The owner of the cash later came forward.