Living in a city and being able to swim in the harbour is a huge luxury for Copenhageners. Partially responsible for the water’s cleanliness is GreenKayak, the environmental NGO.

When I first heard about the initiative, I knew it was something I had to try. The NGO offers you the chance to go on a two-hour kayak tour FOR FREE, and all you have to do in return is pick up some trash and tag GreenKayak on social media.

The GreenKayaks can be rented at several locations across Copenhagen, so together with my friends we booked a tour at Amager Strand.

Upon arrival, we were provided with a life jacket and the tools for collecting the trash. Then, it was time for the hardest part of the experience: getting the kayak into the water.

After that struggle, we finally started our tour. There is no kayaking experience needed to participate, but I quickly realised that doing some more arm workouts beforehand wouldn’t have been a bad idea. After some time, we had finally figured out in which direction to paddle and started looking for trash.

However, no matter how far we went, there was nothing to see in the water other than some plants. We therefore enjoyed a free kayaking tour without picking up any trash whatsoever.

Unfortunately, our experience came to an end earlier than predicted because it suddenly started raining – good that they tell you to wear suitable clothing due to the high chance you might get wet.

GreenKayak’s way to success
GreenKayak aims to encourage Danes and tourists to show greater responsibility for the waste they produce.

The first free-of-charge GreenKayak was launched in 2017 in Copenhagen. Since then, more than 80 tonnes of trash have been collected by several thousand volunteers.

Today approximately 73 GreenKayaks can be found across various cities in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Norway. In 2022, even the Japanese capital Tokyo became part of the environmental project.