Recycling center searching for woman who donated Apple I computer worth $200K

We've all heard you should recycle your old electronics so they don't end up in a landfill or poison the water supply -- but before you head to the recycling center, just double check your dusty old machine isn't actually a collectible worth nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

A San Francisco area electronics recycling firm is looking for a woman who they say dropped off a rare 1976 Apple I computer. Workers at Clean Bay Area say the woman didn't want a tax receipt and didn't leave contact information when she dropped off boxes she says she had cleaned out of her garage after her husband died.

It wasn't until a few weeks later workers opened the boxes and discovered the vintage computer inside -- one of only about 200 such machines built in 1976 by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and that have since gone for as much as $375,000 at auction.

Clean Bay Area sold the collectible to a private collector for $200,000, and since its policy is to split any proceeds with the original owner, the company says it's now trying to find the woman so it can give her her $100,000 cut.

A Clean Bay official says he remembers the woman and tells the San Jose Mercury News he would know the woman by looking at her.

Also on AOL.com:
Senate takes up House bill but fails to avoid spying lapse
Brian Williams: New options won't solve an old problem at NBC
Man convicted of stalking Mila Kunis escapes from mental health facility