Turning weapons into purpose

Data for the year ending March 2024 recorded approximately 50,500 crimes involving a sharp instrument in England and Wales, with NHS data showing 3,900 of these crimes resulted in‘hospital episodes’. Most heartbreaking of all, the Home Office reported 224 homicides involving a sharp object in the year ending March 2023. In the face of this tragedy and loss,one man is fighting back. Meet Stuart Hill and his award-winning company: Weapon Surrender.

When Stuart left school and began temping at a local engineering business, little did he know where it would lead.

“It was a monotonous job operating a machine,” he says. “However, I soon started fitting and setting the machine, and then I was running the area. I moved to a die-casting company for better pay but couldn’t see a career path.That’s when I took myself off to Dudley College of Technology.”

Stuart spent a total of seven years accruing City & Guilds qualifications and a HNC in engineering subjects, an endeavour that led him to a sales engineer position and several subsequent promotions. In 2018, he joined Alpha drive Engineering Services as Commercial Director.

“Some of the work focused on destroying end-of-term armaments, specifically guns, for the MoD,” he says.“It gave me the idea of launching Weapon Surrender Ltd, helping the Home Office, Police and charities to remove knives from our streets, save lives and make communities safer.”

Stuart’s holistic solution includes: the manufacture of sealed/tamper proof amnesty bins; periodic collection and cataloguing of contents; and subsequent destruction and recycling. He supports the service with aunique web portal that allows secure 24/7 user access to each bin location with live activity updates. As a point of note, RRJ Engineering Services in Willenhall, owned by Stuart’s business partner, is the manufacturing arm of Weapon Surrender.

“We’ve found a way to remove high volumes of knives from our streets, safely and efficiently.”

The company has already recycled around 25,000 knives, but this is only a fraction of what it could handle. Concludes Stuart:“With help from the Home Office or the private sector, we’re looking to scale-up. One way or another I will grow this business because it’s in the interest of everyone.”