River clean-up by Australian wins hearts
An Australian start-up founder behind a massive cleaning operation in one of the Philippines’ most polluted rivers has won plaudits for his work that environmentalists said might help in raising green awareness, but did not address the root of the problem plaguing the country’s rubbish-choked waterways.
Mike Smith of Zero Co recently mobilised a team of more than 250 environmental rangers and volunteers to clean up a portion of the Taguig-Pateros River located south of Metro Manila, dredging up 147,000kg of garbage from the waters, mostly plastic.
Zero Co, which offers body and household care products in single-use plastic-free packaging made from recycled ocean plastic waste, initially started removing trash on Australian beaches such as Queensland K’gari Island.
The company later extended its project to Java and Bali in Indonesia, and also collected 18,000kg of waste from a stretch of the Nile River in Egypt.
Smith said a portion of Zero Co’s profits funded clean-up drives around waterways polluted with marine plastic waste.
According to the Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the country was the third-largest source of ocean waste worldwide, prompting Smith to roll out longer-term campaigns to revive Manila’s water bodies.
The Southeast Asian nation discards an estimated 3.3kg of plastic waste per person into the ocean, with over 4,800 rivers emitting more than 350,000 metric tonnes of non-degradable litter.
“That was a light-bulb moment, when we thought to ourselves, if we want to have the biggest possible impact on this problem, then let’s go to the source of the problem,” Smith said.
He arrived in the Philippines in 2023 and spent six weeks visiting the most polluted water systems, identifying potential sites through satellite images on Google Earth.
Smith picked Metro Manila’s rivers and tributaries for the project that scooped up garbage from the Tanza Marine Tree Park and the San Juan River, one of the longest streams running through the capital region.
He also hired Francis Chua, a Manila-based project manager, to coordinate with the DENR’s officials to deploy rangers and volunteers for the clean-up drives that largely went unnoticed before the Taguig-Pateros River initiative in late February captured the attention of Filipinos online.
A 2021 water quality report concluded that the river, which passes through the back door of prominent business districts such as Taguig’s Bonifacio Global City and Makati City, was polluted and contained traces of
Smith said the operation was Zero Co’s longest, taking 16 days to complete instead of the 10-day average. Videos of his work went viral after he posted them on social media, fetching thousands of likes and shares.
“Thank you, Mike Smith, for showing Filipinos that it only takes passion and commitment to clean our rivers,” former agriculture secretary Manny Piñol said in a Facebook post.
Another user wrote: “This is impact. Thank you for this! It’s sad that a foreigner had to take the initiative. Where are Filipinos’ hearts at?”
An elated Smith said he received positive feedback from nearby communities and saw a surge in his online following.
“One of the things that inspires me is the conversations we have with local people who ask us what we’re doing and then tell us about the fact that the river used to be a really beautiful place.
“People used to fish there. People used to go swimming in it, and then how grateful [they] are for the work that we’re doing in conjunction with the government and other organisations,” he said.
Zero Co’s Chua refuted claims criticising the government’s supposed inaction on polluted water systems, saying that the clean-up would not have been possible without the support of local agencies.
“I want to make it clear that our government did not neglect its responsibility in the Pateros River clean-up project … It was an excellent example of a successful collaborative effort,” he wrote on Facebook.
Environmental advocates, however, remain unconvinced about the sustainability of such projects, which they say could spark public awareness and action, but do not go far enough.
“There should also be solutions that address the source of the problem and other parts of the system, such as enabling policies and adequate infrastructure,” said Rizza Sacra-Dejucos, Asia regional coordinator of the High Seas Alliance.
She said poor waste management from domestic, industrial and agricultural sources continued to be the top contributors to marine pollution.