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.
