Havering’s first knife bin in Harold Hill, has seen the surrender of 1,152 knives and bladed items in its first year.
The permanent knife bin was installed in the car park of Central Park Leisure Centre in June last year (2025), to allow people to anonymously and safely dispose of knives and other bladed weapons.
The bin is funded by the Home Office via Word4Weapons and it is located next to the clothes bin in the car park.
Havering remains one of the safest London Boroughs and the Council is supporting a number of preventative initiatives through its community safety and enforcement teams, to help keep residents safe.
The teams continue to work alongside the Police and other partners, in encouraging anyone in possession of any weapons to do the right thing and surrender them so more lives will be saved and to not carry them in the first place.
Included in this work was the introduction of a second knife bin outside the Town Hall in Romford last month (August 2026), jointly funded by OpenView and Romford BID via Word4Weapons.
It is located next to the recycling bins in the car park, in Main Road.
Councillor Terry Brown, Havering’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Protection and Anti-Knife Champion, said:
“It is great news to hear that the knife bin in Harold Hill has helped get over a thousand knives and other bladed items taken off our Borough’s streets.
“We continue to encourage anyone in possession of any knives or other weapons to do the right thing and surrender them.
“At the same time, we want to reassure our residents that Havering remains one of the safest Boroughs and that the high number of knives already surrendered does not equate to the level of crime on the streets.
“The bins are there to provide another level of support to the ongoing work that our community safety and enforcement teams, the Police and other partners, do every day to help keep Havering stay safe.
“Our message also is to everyone, please do not carry knives. Together we can help save more lives.”