Daily Northern

Nordic News, Every Day

Menu

Copenhagen rewards eco-friendly tourists and locals with free meals and attractions in new initiative, CopenPay

Wednesday 10th 2024 on 10:06 in  
Denmark

Arrive on foot or by bike and get a free coffee or a glass of rosé. Or how about collecting trash or weeding the community garden for a free lunch? Twenty-four different attractions and dining venues in Copenhagen are now collaborating on an initiative that rewards tourists and locals for performing environmentally friendly actions. This could include arriving at a location in an environmentally friendly way or helping to remove waste.

The initiative is called CopenPay and is being implemented in partnership with the tourism organization Wonderful Copenhagen. It’s a pilot project running from July 15 to August 11. If successful, the development of CopenPay will be considered.

“We hope to see a positive change in behavior among the tourists who come here,” says Rikke Holm Petersen, Communications and Marketing Director at Wonderful Copenhagen. Although the initiative is open to everyone, the organization is particularly focusing on tourists, hoping that news of the initiative reaches them before they arrive.

Twenty-four partners are involved in the pilot project, which runs from July 15 to August 11. Many places offer something cold to drink or a cup of coffee, while others offer full meals. Several museums, such as the National Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and the Open Air Museum, offer everything from free ice cream to free activities. This can be obtained by bringing plastic waste or showing that one has used public transportation to reach the location.

Absalon Community House offers a communal breakfast for those who arrive by public transportation or on foot, GoBoat offers a one-hour boat tour for doing the same, while Skurets Vinsalg provides a glass of rosé and rents petanque balls to you without any charge.

One of the participants in the pilot project is the dining area Banegaarden. Here, from Monday to Wednesday afternoons, one can collect trash in exchange for a free lunch. A bag is provided, which must then be filled with garbage. Once filled, the bag can be returned and exchanged for a meal ticket, says Ida Marie Banke André, a partner at Banegaarden.

“It’s important for us to highlight the importance of sparing the environment from trash. We are surrounded by one and a half hectares of wild nature, and it’s rare to find a green oasis in the city. We want to preserve that,” she says. She hopes that both tourists and locals will show up to collect trash.

However, if you hope to see a markedly different city after the project, you may need to curb your enthusiasm. According to Wonderful Copenhagen, the project should be seen as part of a larger focus by the organization, and not a miracle cure.

“This campaign cannot stand alone against the great task of creating a sustainable transformation of the capital’s tourism,” says Rikke Holm Petersen from the tourism organization. “But part of the purpose is to increase awareness that we as tourists can travel and make more sustainable choices.”

Following the pilot project, Wonderful Copenhagen will reach out to both the tourists and the 24 involved attractions and dining venues.

“If it becomes a success, we will look into the possibilities of further developing CopenPay,” she says. Any further development would extend the scheme to more locations and over a longer timeframe.