Bringing empty bottles to the bottle bank can be quite confrontational after the holidays. Especially those green bottles, which contained the wine and champagne. Did we really drink that much together? Yet the people of Brabant don’t seem to be really excited about Dry January, or not drinking a drop of alcohol for a month. This is how a tour past overflowing bottle banks teaches.
Dry January comes over from the United Kingdom. The Dutch variant of this public health campaign is called IkPas. Since 2014, people from Brabant have been urged not to drink alcohol, especially in January. It turns out that this call is not for everyone on this first Monday after the turn of the year.
It’s the time to go shopping again and immediately dump the empty bottles from the party. This is also the case in Prinsenbeek, where a lady has just arrived with a box of empties. “Yes, quite a bit of booze went through on New Year’s Eve. And actually I’m thinking about Dry January, but I’m still in doubt. Maybe 80 percent,” she laughs.
“Those Belgian beers are really tasty.”
A little further on, a grandpa and grandma are standing with their grandchildren, looking at a ‘talking’ Christmas tree. “Yes, we certainly had a good party and drank. Less alcohol in the coming weeks is quite a good plan, if only to lose some kilos. But no alcohol at all, that goes too far for me,” says the woman. Her husband adds with a smile: “We go for half dry, because those Belgian beers are really tasty.”
“Carnival is coming up, so you have to keep up a bit.”
Meanwhile, Maikel Helmons of waste processor Saver drives his truck through West Brabant to empty overflowing glass bins. “It’s super busy, yes. Especially a lot of colorful glass.” He fishes the bins out of the ground with great precision and empties them as quietly as possible into the open container at the back of the truck.
Maikel thinks Dry January is a good initiative. “That’s wise, because at Christmas and New Year’s Eve there is enough to drink. But nothing for a whole month, that’s a very long time. Carnival is coming again, so you have to keep up a bit,” laughs Maikel.
