Quezon City, 4 June 2026
The Philippine government has formally entered into a partnership with global non-profit The Ocean Cleanup, signing a five-year agreement aimed at removing floating waste from the Pasig River and the introduction of low-cost innovative technologies for a rigorous scientific data exchange and baseline situational analyses.
“The Pasig River has carried the burden of our consumption habits for far too long,”
Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna said. “We cannot allow this river to remain a pipeline of plastic to the ocean. This agreement is a decisive step toward breaking that cycle.”The agreement, signed this week by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), represents a two-front strategy. “This partnership allows us to confront the problem from both ends — by holding producers accountable and by deploying the technology needed to intercept the waste already in our waters,” Secretary Cuna added.
With the support of the Philippine Embassy in The Hague and the Dutch Embassy in Manila, the partnership is designed to complement the government’s upstream regulatory push under Republic Act 11898, the Extended Producer Responsibility Act, which requires large companies to recover and recycle the plastic packaging they produce.
The Ocean Cleanup has become known for engineering large-scale river Interceptor™ and ocean cleanup systems. The group has deployed 21 Interceptors in 10 countries and to date has collected more than 52 million kilograms of trash from aquatic environments as of April 2026. Its technology, solar-powered, automated, and designed for high-volume capture, is expected to be adapted to the Pasig River’s heavy and continuous waste load.
The Manila Bay Region, including the Pasig River System, is one of the key waterways The Ocean Cleanup is set to deploy in as part of its 30 Cities Program. Launched last year, the Program sees the scaling of the organization’s proven Interceptor solutions across 30 key cities in Asia and the Americas, with the aim to eliminate up to one-third of all plastic flowing from the world’s rivers into the ocean before the end of the decade.
“This strategic initiative is a direct response to the urgent directives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., serving as a vital technical pillar for the administration’s flagship ‘Pasig Bigyang Buhay Muli’ (PBBM) project,” Secretary Cuna explained. “By integrating The Ocean Cleanup’s cutting-edge solutions with the government’s local restoration programs, the partnership aims to fulfill the President’s vision of a clean, navigable, and vibrant Pasig River that serves as a cornerstone for sustainable urban renewal and national pride.”
Over the next five years, the partnership will prioritize knowledge transfer to the Pasig River Coordinating and Management Office (PRCMO) under the DENR-National Capital Region. “This ensures that once the project reaches maturity, local authorities will be fully equipped with the specialized skills and technological insights necessary to maintain the river’s cleanliness for future generations,” Secretary Cuna said.
“Plastic pollution is a global problem that requires strong local partnerships to solve it,” said Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. “This agreement with DENR brings together local leadership and global expertise to accelerate action in one of the world’s most important coastal regions. By combining research, data and operational experience, we can identify where our Interceptor technology will have the greatest impact and help stop plastic before it reaches the Manila Bay Region and the ocean.”
“The Ocean Cleanup has deployed solutions around the world and demonstrated that large-scale reduction of plastic pollution is achievable,” Slat continued. “We look forward to working alongside DENR and local partners to build on existing efforts and help drive lasting results for the Philippines.”
The Ocean Cleanup’s work in Manila is being supported by Energies PH. “EnergiesPH sees this collaboration with The Ocean Cleanup as part of a larger initiative: to help build sustainable communities by connecting clean energy, clean water, resilient infrastructure, and practical environmental stewardship. The Interceptor is a technology, but the real project is larger. It is about restoring confidence that even our most difficult environmental problems can be addressed when science, government, enterprise, and community work together,” commented Antonio A. Ver, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Energies PH.
Preparations for deployments across the Manila Bay region are underway. The Ocean Cleanup has already surveyed nearly 100 sites, and is working with the DENR to identify key deployment locations that will yield maximum impact. In addition to strategic sites along the Pasig River currently being identified by the PRCMO, The Ocean Cleanup is set to deploy its first Interceptor barrier in the Meycauayan River in Bulacan.
About The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit organization that develops and scales solutions to rid the oceans of plastic. By conducting extensive research, engineering scalable solutions, and partnering with governments, industry, and like-minded organizations, The Ocean Cleanup is working to stop plastic inflow via rivers and remove legacy plastic already polluting the oceans. As of June 2026, the non-profit has collected over 52 million kilograms (114.6 million pounds) of trash from aquatic ecosystems around the world. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs a multi-disciplined team of approximately 200 people. The organization is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with international operations in 10 countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment