"More than just a sweeper and collector"

CEOs for Berlin visit the Berlin city cleaning service

Philipp Zettl | Policy Officer

With just under 7,000 employees, Berliner Stadtreinigung (BSR) is not one of the city's largest companies. But in one category, BSR towers above all the other 170,000 companies in Berlin: it is - as confirmed by surveys - the most popular company in the capital. To find out how BSR has earned its place at the top, the CEOs for Berlin visited the company headquarters in Schöneberg at the invitation of BSR CEO Stephanie Otto.

Brand development plays a central role at BSR. In the past, BSR had a bad image, Otto reported, the company was perceived as a boring authority and a mere "sweeper and collector". With the new marketing strategy and ironic slogans on waste garbage cans - "Corpus for all deliciti" or "Please feed" - and waste collection vehicles - "Pflanzrapid" or "Leer Force One" - the aim is to position BSR as part of urban society. Many of the slogans are suggestions from the employees themselves: They should be proud to be part of the city cleaning service. Because a clean city is not only good for me, but also for the whole city," explained the CEO. For her, too, working at BSR is the best job she could imagine.

The fact that BSR is more than just a "sweeper and collector" is also demonstrated by the wide range of work that the company undertakes for the city: In addition to removing and recycling 1.2 million tons of waste every year, BSR also cleans 10 forest areas and 237 of around 2,500 green spaces and playgrounds in the city. In addition, there are tasks such as winter services or bulky waste and educational work. One of BSR's priorities is to strengthen the circular economy: the Zero Waste Agency was founded in 2023 to promote waste avoidance, reuse and recycling. BSR also operates the NochMall, a second-hand department store, and repair cafés. In total, BSR has 69 professional fields and 250 trainees, Otto said.

A matter close to the CEO's heart: the campaign "Draußen zuhause fühlen" ("Feel at home outside"), which aims to raise awareness for more urban cleanliness through offers, education and penalties. Only together with the almost 4 million Berliners and around 13 million tourists can Berlin become better, greener and cleaner. This also includes strengthening respect in the use of public space and in our interactions with one another.

Climate change is also a challenge that does not leave BSR untouched. Thanks to CO2 credits from recycling, BSR is already climate-neutral, Otto reported proudly. However, in order to become permanently climate-neutral from 2045, her company will have to invest almost two billion euros over the next few years. So the tasks are not getting any less.