When you buy new cutlery, there’s usually one of two reasons. Either you’re setting up home for the first time and kitting your new pad out with anything you can afford to get started, or alternatively those old knives and forks have seen better days.
We’re looking at the latter case today, dealing with replacing scratched, tarnished, bent or mismatched cutlery sets that have reached the end of their useful (or acceptable!) life.
Cutlery can be recycled at your local tip in the metals skip. Do not put it into your recycling bins at home with metals like tin cans. If you cannot get to a recycling point, cutlery should go into your general waste bin for collection.
There’s often a trigger for people to look into the cutlery drawer at home and suddenly notice the time has come to do something about all those knives, forks and spoons.
Perhaps you’ve gradually lost a few items, or heavy handed members of the household had bent the handles of one too many (spoons, as we know are no match for a pot of Ben and Jerrys straight from the freezer!).
A common occurrence is to find that you’re trying to lay the table ahead of mealtime and realise you’re hunting for enough knives or forks to get the job done. Hopefully it’s just a case of washing up a couple of extras rather than really being short, but it’s a warning sign that something needs to be done.
Worse is the time when you’ve got visitors coming for a meal, and there just aren’t enough to go around. It’s much like the plastic plates coming out of the cupboard that have seen a camping trip or two, or that moment Peter Kay is famous for with the ‘Emergency Chairs’…
Anyway, back on track, when the time comes for a new cutlery set, if you need them in the next day or two, it’s Amazon to the rescue as normal:
Cutlery Set
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Cutlery Set, 24 Piece Cutlery Set Stainless Steel Flatware Silverware Set Including Dinner Knife Fork Spoon and Teaspoon Mirror Polished & Dishwasher Safe Cutlery Utensil Set Service for 6 (Silver)
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Cutlery Set, BEWOS 16 Piece Stainless Steel Flatware Set, Tableware Silverware Set with Spoon Knife and Fork Set, Service for 4, Dishwasher Safe/Easy Clean, Mirror Polished
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32PCS Silverware Set, Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Flatware Set for 8, Food-Grade Tableware Cutlery Set, Utensil Sets for Home Restaurant, Mirror Finish, Dishwasher Safe
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Cutlery Set, Pleafind 32-Piece Stainless Steel Flatware Set for 8 People, Spoon Knife and Fork Sets, Mirror Polished and Dishwasher Safe, Silverware Set for Home, Kitchen
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Cutlery Set, 32 Piece Stainless Steel Flatware Set Including Knives Forks Spoons Teaspoons Cutlery Set for 8 People, Mirror Polish Finish, Dishwasher Safe, Multipurpose Use for Home Restaurant Hotel
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If you need them same day though, try your local supermarket or Argos to solve the problem quickly.
Do You Need To Dispose Of Old Knives And Forks?
Before you do chuck the old silverware away, regardless of whether it’s at the nearest HWRC or in the wheelie bin, take a moment to think about whether any of it can be salvaged.
For example, in my kitchen drawer, we have all the decent knives, forks and spoons in the trusty Addis cutlery organiser, and behind that we keep all the ‘best of the rest’.
That’s anything from the last items standing from the old tableware collections, along with things like plastic handled children’s cutlery from a decade or so back when the kids were learning to shovel food down their neck on their own.
If you think forward, one day you’ll have the same problem all over again, so a few knives and spoons that may not match but might save the day could sill prove valuable in days to come.
If the thought of non matching cutlery on the table sets your OCD reaction going, then maybe you just want rid, but again, that’s not to say the old silverware has no useful life left. Consider donating it to a grateful recipient.
One good option is the local charity shop. There are plenty of people who will be happy to offer a small donation to a good cause for a few extra knives and forks, even if they’re not a great match for whatever they’ve already got. The reasons might be varied, for some it might be a lack of money to buy a brand new collection, or perhaps they’re environmentally conscious and like to buy second hand.
Whatever the reason for cutlery getting more use, it’s better to re-use than recycle.
What About Sets Of Sharp Knives For Recycling Or Disposal?
The same principles apply to kitchen knives as general cutlery, but there’s an additional safety consideration. While sharp bladed knives can be put into the general waste bin for collection, you must ensure that it’s safe for collection crews.
The easiest way to responsible dispose of knives is to wrap them in cardboard and secure the card with tape. We’ve got a whole page on safely and legally disposing of kitchen knives here.
What About Other Kitchen Utensils And Crockery?
Most things you use in the kitchen can be recycled, but it’s not usually possible in the kerbside collections the council run to your home regularly.
Follow the above principles for kitchen utensils – especially metal ones. Plastic ones can usually be recycled too at the tip, or placed into the normal bin instead of recycling ones.
For crockery, see this article on how to recycle crockery that covers things in much more detail.
