She was already known as ‘Mrs Prik’ in Krommenie and the surrounding area, but garbage collector Gerda Brasser has been doing such a great job collecting cans lately that a nickname has been added. ‘Mrs Blik’ first did her collection rounds by bicycle, but her hobby got a bit out of hand. These men from Krommenie made her very happy this weekend: they selflessly took care of a pimped cargo bike.
Blik has the priority, but on the rounds through Krommenie with her eponymous friend Gerda, Mrs Blik takes just about everything she sees lying on the street. “The best thing is still deposit bottles.” She doesn’t keep the money she collects: everything goes to animal welfare organizations.
On her rounds she regularly passed the shed annex garage where René Schleich was working with his men. He regularly has cans left over, so he once asked her if she wanted to take them with him. So she came.
Space too short
“I have a bicycle with large panniers,” says Gerda with a characteristic smile. “If space was short, I had threads to attach bags to the bicycle baskets. The neighbor then came along and sometimes we were blue with laughter, but it always worked out.” Still, it was a bit of a struggle, René noticed. “It just wasn’t. Bag by bag, it was actually too dangerous.”
Watch the NH News report here in which Gerda is still recovering from the surprise. Text continues below the video.
These Krommenians helped ‘Mrs Blik’ with a new pimped cargo bike – NH News
The first round with the new cargo bike has already been done and it takes some getting used to riding it, but Gerda is now one of the happiest residents of Krommenie. “I spent the whole day busy with my cart, and made the first big round to the old iron farmer. Still collected 25 euros.”
She concludes: “Things are going so fast now because people are helping. I now have a large oil drum that holds the entire collection. I am now at the hardware store or handing in bottles at the supermarket almost every day.” Grinning: “It’s pretty much become a day job, okay?”
Help
People who want to can help. You can leave cans, bottles, metal and iron with her behind the fence or with the green barrel at her address: Dunkirk 16 in Krommenie.
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