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  • 3/25/2025
Kayaking for free in Copenhagen while collecting waste. That's what this Dane is offering with GreenKayak.

Brut Nature went on board with him.
Transcript
00:00Right now we are in the center of Copenhagen looking for trash in the water.
00:07There are only two rules to use the kayak.
00:32Firstly you need to spend your time picking up trash while kayaking.
00:36And secondly share your experience on the social media.
00:41So those are the rules so you don't pay anything.
00:44The concept is that it is totally for free.
00:54When you walk the streets here and you're looking at the water you see clean water.
00:59You see that it's really nice and as you can see here behind me people are swimming in
01:05the water in Copenhagen but when you get in the kayak and you start looking down you
01:12will see the trash and you will see tiny bits of plastic and you will see plastic bags.
01:20So there is a lot.
01:22So using the green kayak is actually also opening the eyes of the volunteers who are
01:30using the kayaks.
01:44These ones are actually a little bit hard to see because they are so transparent.
01:50But with the kayak you go very close to everything and that's how you discover that there is
01:57trash.
01:58This is a classic example of what we see all the time.
02:02This is the top of the cigarette package.
02:07They always end up in the water.
02:09The special thing about plastic is that when it's in the water it breaks down but it breaks
02:16down into smaller pieces that you know if you have one bottle and it breaks into two
02:22pieces then you actually have two pieces of plastic and then it just goes on and on.
02:29So even though it breaks down it doesn't mean that it's disappearing.
02:34We are doing something to change the mind, the mindset of people to think more about
02:43if they see trash in nature, if they see trash on the street, you know they should pick it
02:48up because in the end it will end up in the ocean and we can't help that plastic in the
02:57ocean is a growing problem.
02:59We will see more and more and the ones to pay are the species living in the water, fish
03:08and whales and cigarette butts.
03:19Even the tiny bits here are very important.
03:22This may look as prey to a duck.
03:38When they are in the kayak they are really scouting for trash and it's a treasure hunt
03:44for them and sometimes they come back before the time is up, they empty the bucket, they
03:50go for more and it's great.
03:54What a positive thing and what a great story to tell that the kayak was fully booked every
04:02day and tons of trash was ending up not in the water but right here in the bucket.
04:10You know the first year one kayak picked up three tons of trash just in Copenhagen.
04:16Now we have collected more than 13 tons of trash with the kayaks.
04:32So as you see there is quite a lot, plastics, six packs, cans, take away stuff and the usual
04:49plastic bag.
04:51About three kilos, that's good.