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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To take my old kitchen knives to the cops?

147 replies

TheQueef · 23/02/2020 13:39

Cleared out the draw of failed utensils and have now 14 knives all sharp, various sizes.
I checked Google and as far as I can find you wrap the blade in cardboard etc and throw it in general waste, ours goes to landfill.
I don't like the idea of that at all firstly they could accidentally hurt someone, second they could be discovered by kids, thirdly resurface in ten years with my DNA all over them looking like a knife fetishist.
So.
I want to take them to the police station, put them in the amnesty bucket or summat.

My Ddad and DS think I'm being melodramatic and over thinking it. Plus there isn't a knife amnesty so won't be a bucket Hmm

AIBU and getting carried away?

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 23/02/2020 16:33

www.word4weapons.co.uk/bin-locations/

PlumsGalore · 23/02/2020 16:33

Does no one have friendly workers at the recycling and waste centre? Ours are fabulous, they tell you which skip to shove your waste, anything they deem fit for resale they carry to their adjacent resale outlet, heavy bags they lift from your car.

They would probably take the knives from me and say “give them here love” and dispose accordingly

And I would thank them graciously and not even be MN offended I was called love.

Gadgnkk · 23/02/2020 16:37

I’d just chuck them in the scrap metal at the tip. If you want to make them safer you could bundle them together with elastic bands, some going each way, and try to have the blades not protruding.

NaturallyEden · 23/02/2020 16:37

Live in a high knife crime area - we are asked to keep kitchen knives to a minimum and drop off unused ones so no, you are not being silly.

I would take them to the police station.

NaturallyEden · 23/02/2020 16:39

FFS, talk about sucking up resources on trivialities

First time I've seen stabbing prevention described as sucking up resources. FFS.

okiedokieme · 23/02/2020 16:39

Take them to the tip

TSSDNCOP · 23/02/2020 16:41

I dint think it was a silly question OP.

I was only wondering the other day what to do with some old ones I have. I’ll try the tip first to see if they have a disposal facility.

TheSandman · 23/02/2020 16:43

I'd just offer them for free on a local freebie site or freecycle

That's what I'd do too. I mean if these are decent knives with plenty of use still left in them it would be stupid just to dump them.

Oblomov20 · 23/02/2020 16:46

With young boys doing knife crime, I think OP has a valid point about querying disposal!

SoupDragon · 23/02/2020 17:02

With young boys doing knife crime, I think OP has a valid point about querying disposal!

I agree. That is exactly why I wouldn't be offering them on Freecycle either.

My local Sainsbury's has a knife bin in the recycling area. I posted a link earlier to a website that shows where they are.

ListeningQuietly · 23/02/2020 17:03

My goodness the Tabloids have done a brilliant job of creating fear ....
High knife crime area
26 incidents per 10,000 people PER YEAR
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49923129

False worries about knife crime are NOT a reason to bin perfectly usable resources of the planet Angry

HeronLanyon · 23/02/2020 17:30

I think it’s valid to want to dispose of knives safely. A lot of posters are talking about broken knives - unusable. I’m at the criminal bar and knives are everywhere amongst boys and young men. As they become harder to get through shops for those under age and when lots don’t want one to go missing from home it does become important that they’re dealt with safely.
I agree the chances of one individual being a victim of knife crime may be low but it has exploded in occurrence in criminal justice over the last decade or so.

Fedupandpoor · 23/02/2020 17:35

Make one of these and stick it in your front garden.

To take my old kitchen knives to the cops?
NaturallyEden · 23/02/2020 17:42

26 incidents per 10,000 people PER YEAR

Except that's not really valid as those 10,000 people include members of the population who aren't at risk of knife crime necessarily.

TheSandman · 23/02/2020 17:45

False worries about knife crime are NOT a reason to bin perfectly usable resources of the planet

THIS!

AppleTree0915 · 23/02/2020 17:47

YABU to say draw when you mean drawer.

TheSandman · 23/02/2020 17:48

Except that's not really valid as those 10,000 people include members of the population who aren't at risk of knife crime necessarily.

Because... ?

GrockleRock · 23/02/2020 17:52

I took mine to the cop shop and deposited them in the knife box, I woyld worry the bin man would come a cropper otherwise.

Just because its wrapped in cardboard it coukd slip of, unless you used a roll of tape.

I dont put cardboard in the gemeral waste either though.

Marshmello · 23/02/2020 17:55

Erm - that's ott. Wrap them in something, put them in a black bag, knot it and put it in the bun. End of.

pooopypants · 23/02/2020 17:55

I don't think you're being silly OP, I'm due a clear.out too and had actually wondered this

Nip them down to your local bobbies, I'm sure they'll be happy to dispose of / pass them onto the place that melt them down etc. The city I live in has a knife problem though

SciFiRules · 23/02/2020 18:02

I'd just drop them in the metal skip. Warning! Metal skips contain sharp objects... such as damaged metal items!

TSSDNCOP · 23/02/2020 18:17

False worries about knife crime are NOT a reason to bin perfectly usable resources of the planet

The ones I’m getting rid of have broken handles that make them uncomfortable to use. I want to replace them with ones fit for purpose.

To a kid with a roll of Gorilla tape and intent though, the blade might be very handy.

Don’t underestimate the number of people with knives that just haven’t used them or been caught carrying them yet.

TheSandman · 23/02/2020 19:23

The ones I’m getting rid of have broken handles that make them uncomfortable to use. I want to replace them with ones fit for purpose.

That's different. If they have genuinely outlived their usefulness then I would whang them in the metal skip at the local recycling centre.

TheSandman · 23/02/2020 19:27

And (I really must stop posting before I have finished what I was going to say). There are many legitimate reasons for carrying a knife and not everyone who carries one is carrying one to chib people. I have two on my belt and have done for years. I use them every day in my work.

I can't see any real reason for carrying a kitchen knife round in the street though.

Sizeofalentil · 23/02/2020 20:05

@SoupDragon If you gave them away on. Facebook freebie site then it would be obvious if the person is under 16 (the legal age for purchasing domestic knives) and you could choose who to give them too.

If you gave them away on Freecycle you could ask for age verification or google them / search their email address/ look them up on Facebook or WhatsApp/ not hand the knives over if they showed up in school uniform or gang colours when they came to collect.

It seems unlikely that the sort of people who commit knife crimes would only do so if they managed to get a haul of secondhand kitchen knives from freecycle. You can just order a zombie knife or some other hunting blade on eBay etc.