Pasig River: an agreement to stop waste before it reaches the sea

The Pasig River crosses metropolitan Manila and connects the city to the bay. To reduce the floating waste moving through it, the Philippine government and The Ocean Cleanup signed a five-year agreement.

According to the joint announcement published by The Ocean Cleanup, the partnership covers analysis of waste flows, data exchange, skills transfer to local authorities and identification of effective sites for interception systems. When the agreement was announced, sites along the Pasig were still being selected; the river had not already been cleaned up.

The project aims to combine river barriers with measures that make packaging producers responsible for their products. Both sides matter: capturing waste already in the river limits harm, while preventing new waste from entering it offers a path to lasting change.

Success should be judged not by how many devices are announced, but by the waste actually intercepted and safely managed, alongside improvements in river quality over time.

The cover is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of the Pasig.

Source: The Ocean Cleanup, June 4, 2026.