"Construction hazard"
Alcohol is serious business in Poland. In 2023 alone, people in Poland reportedly spent 16.8 billion złoty on vodka, nearly 3 times more money than on milk or butter.* Walking around any large Polish city it’s difficult not to notice discarded small empty alcohol bottles nearly everywhere. In Polish these little flasks are called “małpki,” literally “little monkeys.” The colloquialism most likely refers to the inebriated state people find themselves in after drinking such a flask. Typically filled with 100 to 200 ml of vodka, the flasks are an indisputably popular product in Polish shops. They are discrete and very cheap, usually sold for under 12 złoty, (approximately € 2.75), for one flask. According to a recent study, each day around 3 million people buy “małpki” in all of Poland, with around 1 million of these purchases being made before noon.* They are often discarded not into the trash bin, but simply left wherever they happen to be consumed. What does the presence of “małpki” in public spaces tell us about Polish people’s relationship to alcohol? Are these little empty flasks mere street litter to be ignored or should we start paying closer attention to what gets discarded in our public spaces?
* Sources: