A 55-centimetre machete, samurai swords and spiked knuckle dusters are just some of the weapons Ryan Biddiss has collected this month.
The 29-year-old voluntarily picks up knives from members of the public in London and hands them in to police — no questions asked.
WARNING: This story contains details some readers will find distressing
When a British mum found a 40cm machete stashed in her 14-year-old daughter's mattress, she turned to him for help.
"We hear a lot of things about teenage boys and gangs and stuff, but it's not just teenage boys," Mr Biddiss said.
"We see it all the time that kids get arrested for murder, for stabbing someone, and their parents are completely oblivious to it."
Knife crime has been a known problem in the UK for decades, but after a significant dip in 2020, the number of knife-related offences reported to police has almost returned to pre-pandemic heights.
The rise in knife violence is particularly stark among young people.
Young people carrying 'zombie' knives in pubs
According to the Office of National Statistics, teenagers in England and Wales are now twice as likely to be fatally stabbed as they were 10 years ago.
Essex publican Charlton Higgins said late night venues have seen a spike in knives and attacks on their premises.
"It's become very fashionable amongst younger people to carry knives," Mr Higgins said.
"That's the scary thing, that people think it's okay to carry a knife, when it's not."
The UK government has set out a plan to halve knife crime over the next decade.
A total ban on popular "zombie" knives and machetes is the first step. It came into effect on Tuesday.
In the UK, Zombie knives are more than 20cm long, typically with a serrated edge.
Until now, a loophole made it legal to own and sell the large and ornate blades.
"If that [zombie knife] was put inside of someone, as you're pulling it out the serrated edges are going to catch onto your intestines and anything inside and rip them out," Mr Biddiss said.
"??These knives, the weight on them alone will fracture bones if it doesn't penetrate you."
Under a month-long amnesty before the ban came into effect, officers in some police stations estimated thousands of knives had been left in designated bins, although the final number is still being tallied.
Businesses and knife owners were compensated in exchange for their weapons, in a partial buy-back scheme similar to Australia's gun amnesty following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
Australian knife laws vary in each state and territory, but large machete-style knives are illegal in all jurisdictions without a lawful excuse.
In 2019, New South Wales brought in a law prohibiting zombie knives specifically.
Knife crime a global issue
High profile stabbings in Australia, the UK and Germany this year have brought the issue of knife violence into sharp focus globally.
In July, three children were killed in a stabbing attack during a Taylor Swift themed dance class in the English town of Southport.
Last month an 11-year-old Australian tourist was stabbed eight times in Leicester square in the heart of London.
A week later, a mother was fatally stabbed in front of her toddler daughter at the annual Notting Hill Carnival family day.
Anti-knife activist Julie Taylor said nobody was truly safe in the UK because of the frequency of attacks.
"I'm seeing it daily, I'm seeing either murders daily or stabbings daily throughout the country," Ms Taylor said.
Her 19-year-old grandson Liam was killed in a knife attack outside a pub in Essex in 2020, after he was mistaken for someone else.
Three men were jailed for his murder, which the sentencing judge described as "callous and brutal".
"They stabbed him six times and it was a 39 second attack from them pulling into the car park to pulling out in the stolen car," Ms Taylor said.
"Liam was in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's what we were told in court."
Since Liam's death, Ms Taylor has made it her mission to campaign against knife crime and to raise funds to buy and install emergency medical supplies in public venues.
Her "bleed kits", which each have a photograph of Liam on the front, have already saved three lives.
Mr Higgins has one is his Essex pub.
"One particular night there was a guy that was trying to get into the venue and we wouldn't let him back in, he went off, came back and took a knife to the doorman and cut his throat," Mr Higgins said.
"Luckily we had that bleed kit and we used that, and I believe that without that bleed kit it may have been a different story."
While activists like Ms Taylor and Mr Biddiss welcome the government's knife amnesty and tougher laws, they believe more needs to be done to reduce the number of people dying on Britain's streets.
"It's not only these zombie knives that we're seeing people use, it's kitchen knives as well, which are always accessible," Mr Biddiss said.
"Personally, I think education is the main thing. Some young people are so deep in it that they're not able to get out easily.
"It's about making sure that there's things there for the young people, there's support, there's people that can help them when they need it the most rather than just sitting there and saying 'hand in your knives' and that's it."
