Copenhagen's Bybi keeps bees on rooftops and gives much of its honey away
Bybi, a beekeeping collective in Copenhagen, keeps 80 to 100 bee colonies on rooftops across the city and makes four to six tonnes of honey a year. Much of it is given away, with a request that people share it and plant a flower for the bees.
Bybi's bees live on rooftops across Copenhagen: on businesses, conference centres, schools, municipal buildings and restaurants, as well as on the old buildings in the city centre where the collective is based. The Guardian visited in October 2026.
The collective keeps 80 to 100 colonies and produces between four and six tonnes of honey a year. Each jar comes from a particular street and has its own colour and taste, shaped, as founder Oliver Maxwell puts it, by the flowers people planted, the weather and the bees' own choices.
What happens to the honey is unusual. Sometimes Bybi gives it away at weddings and festivals, asking only that people share it with someone they care for and plant a flower for the bees. Sometimes it sells it in delicatessens, and sometimes it lets buyers decide what to pay.
Between 40 and 50 volunteers take part each year, with a core team of 15. About five people are employed. Bybi's principal beekeeper, Aref Haboo, brought 18 years of beekeeping experience from northern Syria. Disabled volunteers pack flower seeds, most of which are given away for free.
Partners include universities, architects and companies. One company took some hives for land behind a distribution centre, stopped mowing the grass and put up bat, bird and hedgehog boxes. Sponsorships like this support Bybi's work with schools.
A city beekeeping group shows that honey, flowers and a place to belong can be shared rather than sold.
Source: Is the modern economic system broken? These urban beekeepers think so (The Guardian).
Written by the HappyGood desk from the primary source linked above and checked against it. Every story links its source. Corrections: [email protected].
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