Manila’s trash-choked river holds key to fight against ocean plastics

MANILA – At a trash-choked, putrid creek in the heart of the Philippine capital, 63-year-old Xerxes Luna is helping fight the world’s battle against marine plastic pollution.

With eight co-workers, he spends entire days hauling hundreds of sacks of plastic bottles, detergent sachets and styrofoam containers from a tributary of the Pasig River, Manila’s main waterway. They use boats, bamboo rafts and trash traps to prevent garbage from being flushed into Manila Bay and into the sea.

“We are the policemen of river pollution,” he said. “We catch the trash here so they won’t end up in bigger bodies of water.”

While other nations have undertaken similar moves to rehabilitate major waterways like the Seine and the Han, the Philippines’ effort is of particular importance: the 26km Pasig River has been identified as a top emitter of plastic waste. A 2021 study showed that it is estimated to have contributed 6 per cent of plastics from rivers leaking into oceans, more than rivers like India’s Ganges despite being shorter.

The Pasig River was once a pristine food source and transport route, but as Metro Manila grew into a megacity of 14 million, it deteriorated into a dumping ground, with thousands of families now living in makeshift houses along the river. Data from global consultancy company Arup – which partnered with the Asian Development Bank to build a digital model of the Pasig River to identify pollution hotspots – showed that plastic bottles, foam containers and film wrappers made up most of the plastic waste floating on one of its tributaries during last year’s rainy months. 

“If you can remove even a small portion of that waste, you can make a massive difference to the marine ecosystem,” said Mr Adrian Marsden, who leads Arup’s water team in South-east Asia. “That makes the Pasig River a particularly interesting case: a small proportion like that makes a big difference globally.”

A report released late in 2025 highlighted the urgency of finding a solution – global plastic pollution will hit 280 million metric tons per year by 2040, or a dump truck’s worth every second, but nations are still struggling to reach a treaty to tackle the problem. 

His government has allocated 287 million pesos (S$6.2 million) in 2026 to beautify the riverside, and created an office to link up national agencies and local governments with separate efforts to revive the river. In January, First Lady Liza Marcos led the opening of food stalls at a new section of the river esplanade that used to be an abandoned area. Now, it’s adorned with a walkway, bike lanes and Parisian-style street lights.

“We have more customers now, even foreigners,” said 56-year-old vendor Elvira Buban, who sells necklaces and earrings at a riverside kiosk. “I’m happy that the image of the Pasig River as ugly and dirty has already changed.”  

The goal is to extend the manicured walkway throughout the whole stretch of the riverside by 2028, when Marcos steps down, in a bid to spur tourism and economic activity in the capital region. The government is also planning to deploy more commuter ferries on the river this year to ease congestion on Manila’s roads.

“The future of the river is the future of Metro Manila,” said Mr Henry Pacis, a government official leading the clean-up. “If we don’t address this problem now as our population keeps growing, this will come crashing down on us, especially with the threat of climate change.”

Pasig City, one of the areas where the river flows through, was granted US$1 million (S$1.28 million) in the recently concluded Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Mayors Challenge to create open spaces near the waterway by converting barges into floating parks. Bloomberg Philanthropies is the philanthropic organisation of Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg, which owns Bloomberg News.

Overall, the government is aiming to reduce waste in the Pasig River by 25 per cent in the next four years, according to the office set up by Marcos to oversee the rehabilitation. Cleaning up the river will result in long-term savings by preventing floods and reducing pollution-related health costs, it added.

International groups have joined the effort, such as United Arab Emirates-backed foundation Clean Rivers, which has committed US$20 million. The ADB has funded a solar-powered, AI-enabled robot to collect trash and invasive water hyacinths that clog the river.

“It’s not just about reducing waste leakage and cleaning up the Pasig River, but also about creating solutions that provide communities along and dependent on the river with access to waste services, and improve their resilience, lives and livelihoods,” said Ms Deborah Backus, chief executive officer of Clean Rivers.

The environment agency will meanwhile focus on preventing leakages to the river by flagging structures such as factories and government buildings that contribute to pollution and violate a regulation against building near the waterway, according to Pacis. A recent tour on the river, however, showed that it’s barely being followed or implemented – a resident was seen flinging trash into the river and throwing wastewater after washing dishes. A public market was dumping sewage directly into it.

A plan to relocate poor households living by the river is also in the works. In a shanty village named Bluewater, 45-year-old housewife Sheree Mae Vailoces said she’s willing to transfer elsewhere in the city, as long as it does not disrupt the studies of her six children and her husband’s construction job.

“I’ve lived by this river all my life,” said Ms Vailoces as she showed a yellow sack where her community’s trash is neatly placed. “When it floods, the trash ends up in our houses. I want this clean-up to succeed too.” Bloomberg