How to Dispose of Kitchen Knives Safely – Guide

When a knife becomes dull and unusable due to improper use or simply due to the inevitable signs of aging, it is often thrown in the household waste.

However, this is very, very dangerous! Even if the blunt blade is wrapped with newspaper or other insulating material and therefore protected, it can cause injury.

So?

Then discover with us how to dispose of kitchen knives in a safe (and a little creative) way.

“Never put your knife in the dishwasher.” The saying goes, and it is a good reminder to keep the knives out of reach of young children. But if you have to have them, do so safely and responsibly, protect both your food and yourself from serious injury by using them properly. Here are some tips on proper knives disposal:

5 Ways of How to dispose of kitchen knives

Pointed, sharp, and easy to handle: this is how a good chef’s knife must be. But what happens to kitchen utensils when they have run their course?

Throwing it in the garbage bag is not a good idea: think about how many people could get hurt with these sharp objects.

Below we present you how to dispose of kitchen knives;

1. Do a good deed

First of all, put a hand on your heart and think you are doing a good deed: give your knife to those who might need it most.

While it can hardly be used to your standards, your knife can help someone else practical in reusing kitchen knives. The soup kitchen or even a school canteen can be the beneficiaries of what you no longer use.

In the hands of a DIY expert, your knife can be (almost) as good as new!

2. Try to make it pay off

Even if you no longer know what to do with it, your old knife may be worth something. Try asking your local knife sharpener or a knife shop.

If it is not entirely rusted, a good professional can recover the parts in good condition for its repairs.

You can also try to sell it to those who deal with iron disposal: if it is good quality, you can get something out of it.

3. Dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way

Knives are often made of high-quality materials, so your best bet is separate disposal in a recycling center.

Ask for information at the ecological platform of your municipality of residence.

An adequately structured center will take care of following the recycling phases of your knife, possibly separating the precious metal (for example, the stainless steel and carbon blades ) from the other materials (such as plastic and aluminum ) that make up the tool.

Maybe even the imitation ceramic knives find a valid recycling route.

4. Give it to the police

Are you afraid that your knife will fall into the wrong hands? Even if it’s in bad shape, you know it’s always a weapon.

If you have a particularly dangerous knife in your hands (maybe it is a cleaver ), perhaps it is better to deliver it in safe hands: try contacting the local police.

5. Throw it away

You don’t know who to give it to; it’s not good enough to be resold; it’s just a modest kitchen knife: the instinct is to throw it in the trash.

Be careful, though.

In order not to run the risk of hurting someone who comes into contact with the garbage bag left on the sidewalk (ecological operators, children playing, animals rummaging), protect it adequately.

How to dispose of a knife without too many thoughts

Okay, you’ve made your decision: throw it away. Before you do something rash, please look at our tips that will allow you to put it in the garbage bag with peace of mind.

Retrieve its old blade cover

Good quality knives are usually sold, complete with a plastic blade cover. Try looking in some drawer if you still have it – it’s adequate protection against accidental injury.

If you can’t find it, you can build your own with sturdy cardboard folded in two and sealed with tape.

Wrap it up

Once you’ve protected the blade, get some material from home to wrap the entire knife. You can use:

• the pages of an old magazine or newspaper
• a sheet of cardboard detached from your child’s school album (he will forgive you, it’s for a good cause)
• a shirt you no longer use
• a sheet of bubble wrap

Once you have finished your packaging, seal it with adhesive tape.

Build a case

If you placed an order online and received the item in a sturdy cardboard box, don’t throw it away. Open it carefully and … take the measurements carefully:

• First, check the length and width of your knife
• with the help of a cutter, cut out a cardboard rectangle that must be more than twice the size of the knife
• fold the cardboard in half
• close it on three sides with adhesive tape
• insert the knife from the free side
• also, close the last side

Put it in a container

Raise your hand if you don’t have one of these items at home:

• a plastic bottle
• a box of pasta
• a shoebox

All these containers are very useful to protect your knife for disposal. In the case of boxes, all you have to do is place it inside them adequately protected (as illustrated in the previous points), surrounding it with paper bullets or rags.

If you choose the bottle, proceed as follows:

• cut the bottle at the top (under the neck)
• insert the knife well protected and with the blade facing the bottom
• close the bottle with the adhesive tape

Conclusions

As you can see, there are several ways to dispose of kitchen knives safely you no longer use. You can give them away, sell them, recycle them … and if you can’t give them a new life, you have to throw them away.

In any case, the important thing is to take all the necessary precautions to ensure safe disposal. It should not forget that a knife is always a weapon, no matter how blunt, ruined, or rusty!