The Bybi collective, a group of beekeepers in Copenhagen, maintains 80 to 100 bee colonies across various city locations, including rooftops, businesses, and schools. These colonies collectively produce between four and six tonnes of honey each year.
Founded in 2010 by Oliver Maxwell, 48, Bybi operates from a complex of Victorian buildings that once served as a prison, workhouse, and hospital. The site now functions as a homeless shelter and a young offender institution, among other uses.
The collective's approach to distributing honey varies; it is sometimes given away at events, sold in boutique delicatessens, or offered through a reverse haggling process where sellers start with low prices. Bybi also receives support from partners including universities, architects, and corporations such as L'Oréal, which has sponsored school programmes.
Aref Haboo, 53, the principal beekeeper, arrived in Denmark in 2014 after being displaced from Syria. He has 18 years of beekeeping experience from the Afrin province of northern Syria.