Berlin rewards anyone who collects waste and plants flowers.

Il BerlinPay It is a civic project inaugurated in the German capital in May 2026 that offers everyone, residents and tourists, the opportunity to lend a hand to improve the urban environment and receive various types of compensation.

The mechanism, which replicates the CopenPay program, launched with great success in the Danish capital (one of the most sustainable cities in the world) in 2024, works with a very simple mechanism.

Anyone, once registered in the program, through the platform visitBerlin, can take concrete and useful actions to improve the environment and the city's overall quality of life. 

For example:

• use bicycles or public transport instead of cars
• participate in river or park cleanups
• environmental or social activities (e.g. planting trees, supporting inclusive events)
• plant flowers
• clean the plants
• improve the cleanliness of waterways.

Once the activity is documented and verified on the platform, the person responsible for the actions receives a sort of reward, which comes not only directly from the municipality but also from around forty companies and associations that have become project partners.

The prizes are varied: a canoe trip on the Spree, the river that flows through the German capital; free admission to museums or municipal swimming pools; free drinks or discounts at participating clubs and shops.

The project's novelty lies in its involvement not only of residents, but also, first and foremost, of the tourists who flock to the city year-round. In this sense, BerlinPay is also a response to overtourism: in Denmark, when the CopePay campaign was launched, 75 tourists signed up in just one month.  

Read also: 

• Copenhagen: 10 Things That Make It the World's Most Sustainable City
• In the Netherlands, those who eliminate concrete and create green spaces are rewarded.