What Happens to Confiscated Items at Airports?

When you are going through the security checkpoint at the airport and they take your favorite pocket knife and your excess shampoo and toothpaste, do you know where your items are going? Well, it depends on the item.

As for your shampoo and toothpaste (in quantities greater than 3 ounces), they are immediately disposed of. As for your favorite pocket knife (or anything else considered of value), it will be donated to a state surplus agency, and be sold at auction, retail store, or website such as Ebay. Some agencies give first choice of the items to deserving organizations, like the Boy Scouts of America.

Just remember, if you have something of value and you want to keep it, your best chance is to put it in your checked-in baggage. Don’t risk losing your prized possession because you didn’t follow the rules. You can’t bring knives, corkscrews, electric saws, meat cleavers, bats, clubs, blades, wrenches, replica weapons, or even “decorative belt buckles shaped like guns or plastic toys”, (or gasoline, as one traveler tried and failed) with you on an aircraft. The rules are for your safety and the safety of those around you.

Source: www.cnn.com