Chemolex Company has installed 11 plastic capture devices in rivers throughout Nairobi, Kenya
Trash piles up in an illegal dumpsite on the banks of a river in Nairobi
On paper, the ideas for the plastic capture devices looked far-fetched and outrageous even for our team. But as we did reconnaissance and visited proposed sites for the installation, the reality of the problem on the ground hit us like a punch to the face. It immediately became evident that we had to remove our gloves and start tackling the problem as soon as we possibly could. Our first launch was a simple plastic boom made of canvas and stuffed with empty jerry cans strung across the river. It was a site to behold and drew many people from the nearby communities. It took them about ten seconds to recognize the concept that we were trying to advance.
You could see the awe and the wonder plastered all over their faces. The immediate buy-in was our first win with the community, and quite honestly, a big relief for us as a company. Ever since, it has been a rollercoaster of stories, experiences, activities, late nights, and endless virtual and face-to-face meetings to ensure the project remained on a straight trajectory.
Chemolex Company designed, built, and installed plastic capture devices in rivers throughout Nairobi
Now three years in, we have set up over 15 waste collection centers and 11 plastic capture devices along dispersed locations within the tributaries of river Athi: Ngong, Nairobi, and Mathari, among others. We have rehabilitated three former dumping sites into beautiful gardens with trees and flowers and have made more than 30 school tours while drumming up the message of reduce, reuse, recycle, and repurpose to communities and school children alike. Chemolex has also set up our own recycling facility that converts the plastic collected from rivers into beautiful paving blocks and plastic poles. Overall we have collected more than 650,000 kilos of plastic waste from our rivers.
Sorting plastic at the manufacturing facilityPaving bricks made from plastic removed from the nearby river
The global issue of plastic waste is a long war that will be very hard to win. However, we have come up with different techniques and strategies to continue winning battles along the way. Other than just trapping, collecting, recycling, reusing, and repurposing of plastic, Chemolex Company has also come up with an innovative technology that uses organic matter (water hyacinth) to create a recyclable and reusable alternate biopactic material; a replacement for all single- and light-use plastic packaging. We continue partnering with organizations, government agencies, and other countries to embrace this technology because we believe this is what the future looks like.
Chemolex Company’s water hyacinth-based biopactic bag
This belief is informed by the lessons we have learned over the years. For instance, real change must happen from the household level if we are to combat the issue of plastic pollution. In addition, there is a need for companies, agencies, and the government to foster synergies for there to be any impactful movement on plastic pollution. And any organization or company setting up to fight this challenge needs to have community buy-in at the earliest stages to avoid any political bottlenecks and pushback from the youths and the community in general.
Most importantly, it is crucial to share activities on the ground widely with stakeholders and partners. Sharing images, aggregated plastic waste data, short videos, and email updates keeps them thinking about you all the time. Also, by leveraging social media platforms, the community will know what it is you intend to do, what is in it for them, and how the project positively impacts them. Involving all stakeholders from start to finish is key for the project to run smoothly.
Children clean their school grounds as a part of Chemolex Company’s education programs
There will be challenges, but with the right approach, they will be easier to overcome. For instance, our project kicked off during the global pandemic. There was an overwhelming sense of tension, confusion, and fear all over, and as a result most documentations and permits took much longer than expected, if they ever came at all. Another big challenge was that the river plastic capture technology we envisioned did not exist yet, leaving us to invent it from scratch. It took many concept designs and much welding and cutting to get it right, but we did it!
Anyone who wants to replicate this type of project in rivers across the world can now have a smoother ride, thanks to support from the Clean Currents Coalition, partners, local engineers, and a lot of research, trial, and error. Being a part of the Coalition has truly been illuminating and educational and has put us on a global pedestal. We have impacted so many people directly and indirectly, and our biggest win has been the removal of over 650 tons of plastic that would have otherwise ended up in the ocean. The Coalition has given us many tools to continue this fight against plastic that we don’t plan on losing. We shall emerge victorious at the end of it all.
Plastic washes over a resting sea turtle. Every year, 8 to 12 million metric tons of plastic enters our oceans.
The Clean Currents Coalition has achieved a major milestone in the effort to turn off the tap of plastic pollution. Together, the Coalition has captured and removed over 1,000,000 kilograms of plastic waste from rivers worldwide – much of which would otherwise have found its way to the ocean.
In Panama City, Panama, CCC member Marea Verde celebrates reaching the 1,000,000 kilogram milestone at their trash wheel, Wanda Díaz.
Water hyacinth clogs the Citarum River in Indonesia, a challenge for the Citarum Repair team and many others in the CCC.
After three years of research, testing, and scaling up innovative solutions, reaching the 1,000,000-kilogram mark is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Coalition teams. Along the way, they encountered and overcame many challenges – from a global pandemic to technology adjustments to water hyacinth – to show that we can take action and make an impact in our local communities struggling in the face of the growing wave of plastic pollution.
Removing 1,000,000 kilograms of plastic waste from rivers and preventing it from reaching the ocean is a feat to be celebrated in and of itself, but the Clean Currents Coalition is doing so much more than just capturing plastic. To solve the plastic pollution problem, we have to tackle the issue on multiple fronts with a focus on upstream solutions. The ultimate goal of the Coalition is not just to divert plastic from the ocean, but for there to not be plastic to be removed from the environment in the first place.
In Nairobi, Kenya, CCC member Chemolex works with local community groups to transform riverside dumpsites into green spaces. Here, the footpath is made from paving bricks manufactured by Chemolex from the plastic they remove from rivers.
In Tijuana, Mexico, CCC member WILDCOAST used the tires they collected from Los Laureles Canyon to build a community park and soccer field for the local residents.
As a Coalition, we are proud to have reached the 1,000,000-kilogram milestone. But our work is only just beginning. There is much more plastic to capture, and systemic change is needed across all phases of the plastic lifecycle.
Waste accumulates in the Lat Phrao Canal, Bangkok, Thailand, where CCC member TerraCycle Global Foundation is trapping plastic before it reaches the ocean.
Every four hours, another 1,000,000 kilograms of plastic enters the ocean – the same as emptying 240 dump trucks into the water. Humankind has made 11 trillion kilograms of plastic since 1950. That’s equivalent to the weight of 1.1 million Eiffel Towers. Over half of that was made after 2008. By 2050, we are on pace to make over 1 trillion kilograms of plastic every year – at which point we will have made enough to cover the entire United States ankle-deep in plastic.
In this sense, 1,000,000 kilograms may seem like a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of the global plastic pollution problem. But the impact of the Clean Currents Coalition is clear – we need collective, local action as well as large systemic change to solve this crisis. The Coalition teams are making a difference in the lives of thousands of people impacted by plastic pollution in their communities. These solutions can be replicated in other communities and rivers. We can use our power as consumers to drive producers to make less plastic by using less plastic. But we also need top-down action to conquer the plastic menace. We need a strong global plastics treaty that doesn’t cut corners, and we need transformative policies that rethink our relationship with plastic.
1,000,000 kilograms is just the start of the journey for the Clean Currents Coalition.
The Clean Currents Coalition at the 2022 Coalition Symposium in Santa Barbara, California.
Chemolex removes trash by hand from a river in Nairobi, Kenya.
The daywas fresh and excitement filled the air. The time had finally come for the launch of our first plastic capture device on river Ngong on the outer-ring road. But I could not stop and wonder, where are we going to stash all the unwanted plastic waste mixed with all sorts of other trash?
Glass and plastic waiting to be transformed into a useful product at one of five storage locations in Nairobi, Kenya where Chemolex holds the waste removed from rivers.
Before this launch, we had installed a plastic boom to test the concept of capturing floating trash. Already we could see the impact it was having. It didn’t take long to discover that this was going to be a messy (if not smelly ☺) affair. True to it, indeed it was both smelly and messy. The trash was coming in by the double and it was taking a toll on both our ferry and storage carts.
These durable paving blocks are created by adding heat and pressure to shredded plastic and glass removed from rivers.
As Chemolex, we had to quickly innovate to come up with a way to reuse the copious amounts of plastic waste that we were removing from the rivers. We had plans to install more capture devices, and plastic was already piling up. Focusing on our 3Rs initiative (#Recycle, #Reuse and #Repurpose), we devised a model of sorting, transporting, shredding, and storing the plastic waste, ready for conversion into economically viable products.
The recycling process starts right from collection by the plastic capture device. First, the plastic is sorted and weighed to determine exactly how much has been collected by the device in a day. Once sorted, the waste is transported to our storage and recycling facility.
Once at the facility, the plastic and glass is crushed by our cutting-edge machinery, transforming the former waste into raw materials ready for reuse. We use the glass to substitute for sand, which increases the amount of material we reuse and reduces our costs. From there, we add heat, mix the crushed plastic and glass at a unique ratio, and move the mixture through a line process that yields high quality, beautiful, and long-lasting paving blocks for footpaths and parking lots.
The Chemolex team shows off their up-cycled paving blocks at their manufacturing building.
Currently, we have the capacity to produce 130-150 paving blocks a day with the goal of increasing production to around 400 blocks a day. While this may sound like a lot, we still have more demand than we can actually supply. The main challenge arises from heating the plastic — a very expensive and time-consuming process.
But paving blocks are just the first component of the recycling line. We also plan to make interlocking construction blocks, signage poles, tiles, and park benches from recycled materials.
To date, we have set up over 10 plastic capture devices across dispersed locations on Kenyan rivers such as the Athi River, River Mathari, Ngong River and Nairobi River. Combined, the capture devices have removed over 370 tons of plastic from the rivers, not to mention another 20 tons collected from manual cleanups, restaurants, and clubs.
Chemolex community volunteers work to clean a riverside area to create a park and garden.
While we will continue to clean our rivers and reuse the collected material, our ultimate goal is to create behavioral change to stop marine pollution. That means curbing the seepage of plastic into our riverine ecosystems. Working with our local youth and women groups, we are slowly but surely turning the tide on plastic pollution in our rivers.
Chemolex team in action capturing plastics with a barrier and mechanized conveyor system
Nairobi produces 3000 tons of waste daily; barely half of this waste gets to the landfills which means the rest remains uncollected ending up in waterways especially during the rainy season. Only 8-10% of the waste collected is recycled. The need to inculcate the culture of Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling are critical because the path we have taken is not sustainable and we have already started paying the price. Plastics bags and fabrics pile up getting buried in the sediments and build up season after season, causing the river to rise quickly when it rains. Water floods along the riparian and surrounding lands cause a lot of damage to property and sometimes even life.
Trash accumulating along the riverbank
Trash suffocating the soil along the riverbank
Our journey as Chemolex towards Cleaner Rivers, which ensures cleaner oceans, has been eye-opening. It is encouraging to see partnerships that ensure our work bears fruit. This partnership has been achieved through state collaboration where environmental government institutions have embraced our cause and occasionally give guidance, especially where there’s a need to enforce existing laws. Partnerships with private entities such as hotels, clubs, and restaurants help us arrest the plastic waste challenge at the source. Community partnerships and ownership, which is the most critical element, ensures that our plastic capture devices are not vandalized and they voluntarily participate in our cleaning efforts. That support gives us the opportunity to raise awareness further into the communities living alongside the riparian lands as we work together to provide solutions towards the challenge of waste disposal in the rivers.
Volunteers removing trash from the river
Teams of volunteers collecting trash along the riverbank
This is our second year into the project and so far we have collected over 130 tons of plastic waste, with 6 plastic capture devices. This however has not come without its fair share of challenges. We want to share some of the most notable challenges and strategies to address them with our readers in case the lessons we have learned help other practitioners succeed:
Land
Land in Kenya, as would be in most parts of the world, is a very sensitive issue. Even though the riparian land should not be occupied according to the Kenyan environmental laws, some people have taken up these spaces as plots and claim ownership which initially frustrated efforts to set up the plastic capture devices. These false owners would demand rent payment in order to allow the devices to be set up. Our efforts to rehabilitate these spaces by planting trees and other greening efforts are often met with ‘…this is someone’s land’ and you need permission to do so, even when it’s clear where the borders are. There have been cases of destruction of property when aggrieved people incite the community to reject the project. This is an area we navigate with great caution for the sake of this project. While we have the option of taking legal action now that we work closely with government environmental agencies like NEMA (National Environment Management Authority), WARMA (Water Resources Management Authority), and NMS (Nairobi Metropolitan Services). We choose to embrace dialogue in order to maintain goodwill with the people living in this area.
Weather
In Kenya, we experience two rainy seasons, and since the project started, we have gone through 3 seasons. Our plastic capture devices are fitted with mortars that constantly get damaged when rivers flood. Sometimes the devices are completely swept away by the floodwaters. In order to mitigate the impacts of the floods on the motor, Chemolex Company has developed a strong metal casing for the device that ensures that the motor is protected from heavy rain as well as sunshine. The strong metal casing also protects the motors and other movable parts of the plastic capture device from vandalism or theft.
Continuity
We have cleaned up most of the areas we have set up our plastic capture devices and are in the process of greening and continuously improving them. The challenge comes in when people would come in at night to dump waste in the already cleaned up areas forcing the teams to constantly clean up the same areas over and over again denying us a chance to move focus on other areas. In a bid to address this challenge, we are currently creating vegetable gardens in a bid to discourage dumping. The vegetable gardens are currently benefiting young women and youth groups as their daily meal. Also, these women do sell extra vegetables to earn weekly income for use in their households.
Community member working in the garden (left) Kale and Spinach in the Project Sites (right) Banana trees, kale, and more in Ngomongo of the largest dumpsites in Nairobi that was reclaimed by Chemolex (above).
Covid-19 pandemic
Last year, despite the pandemic, local guidelines were flexible and this allowed us to do community clean-ups frequently. This year, we have not been able to do the same because of the amended guidelines and this means the ground is getting ‘cold.’ We were quickly picking up pace towards behavioral change so when we are out of sight, we are out of mind. Currently, we have partnered with women and youth groups that are strategically well-positioned to educate and create awareness to the riparian households at individual levels with strict conformity to the COVID 19 protocols by the Ministry of Health. The women and youth groups have helped to establish significant momentum on proper wastes management at the household levels.
Unexpected costs
This comes about when the needs on the ground are more than they were envisaged and hence budgeted for. For example, we find ourselves constantly improving the designs and repairing the plastic capture devices, which is something we had not anticipated.
Politics
Politics at the ground level means there are always people with vested interests who may sometimes see our efforts as an affront to their office, or paint them in a bad light. As a result, they may turn down any help we may require from them or turn a blind eye to our requests. Our key strategy in navigating the challenging political environment is working closely with key regulators such as the National Environmental Authority (NEMA) and County Government to ensure full protection during the project implementation. The key environmental regulators have helped us to educate the community and achieve project credibility as well as authenticity within the riparian households.
View of the polluted waters and plastics along the riverbank
Two community members removing trash
In conclusion, this project, therefore, offers an effective solution to arrest plastic and other waste from River Athi which is a major pathway for the transport of plastic wastes into the Indian Ocean. Despite the challenges experienced in the first year, we have continually reinvented ourselves with solutions that are unique to each site that we installed a device. This has helped us to make significant strides in creating a positive behavior change on the management of wastes within the riparian households along River Athi. As a result, and over the past year, we have also arrested more than 130 metric tons of plastics from the six project sites along the river. Hence, we are optimistic that by the end of 2023, our efforts will help to increase plastic recycling to up to 95% within major cities where River Athi flows.
Community participation is key to accomplish our goals, without it we cannot move forward. Community members working together to clean up waste.
Chemolex Company Ltd are working to capture plastic and other debris that float on the surface and choke the riverbanks of the Athi, Nairobi, and Ngong Rivers near Nairobi, Kenya.
The River Athi, and its tributaries Nairobi, Ngong, and Mbagathi, flow lazily through the plains of the Maasai Mara, the Tsavo, the valleys of Kenya, and eventually empty their waters into the Indian Ocean. Millions of Kenyans rely on these rivers for drinking water and irrigation, and wildlife depend upon the rivers for survival.
While the River Athi and its tributaries give life to Kenya, they also receive large amounts of plastics, pollution, and waste from the over nine million residents of the Nairobi area. Our government has taken aggressive measures to curb plastic use, including a strict ban on single-use plastic bags and efforts to clean pollution-prone sections of the river, but insufficient waste management systems remain a problem for our precious rivers.
Pollution and waste accumulate in the River Athi. A common sight – and often more severe – along many sections of the river.
As a part of the Clean Currents Coalition, we at Chemolex are partnering with SmartVillages to install 10 plastic capture devices along these rivers to prevent plastic waste from reaching the Indian Ocean. But removing plastics is only the first step in our plan to revive and restore these once mighty rivers. Through local outreach and education, we aim to curb the flow of plastics to the rivers by encouraging reduced plastic use and proper recycling. We are working with women’s groups and community-based organizations to train the next generation of river keepers and create a sustainable model of stewardship. By doing this, we hope to create positive behavior change with the locals regarding waste management. And we will create value for the waste collected from the river by transforming it into energy and construction materials. Through these efforts and in collaboration with the Clean Currents Coalition, we hope to bring life back to these rivers for all Kenyans today and in the future.
The Chemolex team with the Keyambea Youth Group, a local youth organization resolved to rehabilitate Kenya’s rivers.
To help the world understand the great challenges our River Athi faces, we share with you its story:
The River Athi: “I am dying…”
The dying River Athi.
There are children playing with sand on my dusty banks while their mother is busy lighting a fire to boil green maize cobs. In a few hours, the glass-bottle recycling workers nearby will be trotting by to pick the boiled maize. On a plank just ahead, there is a young boy, barely in his teenage years, smoking something rolled up in a paper.
Innocent children play by the banks of the smelly and polluted river, unaware of the dangers they face from diseases to toxic waste.
An expectant woman, hiding pain behind her eyes, passes by with a box of trash in her hand. Without much thought, she tosses the waste towards me. It is as if I am not even here. Meandering silently and surely across the low-income settlements haphazardly constructed on my riparian, I slither between the buildings like an invisible snake. I know their darkest secrets.
Plastic and other waste is strewn about the banks of the river, whose acrid smelling water has been turned black from pollution.
I have lived for thousands of generations. I have seen the young grow old, wither, and die. I have seen your great, great grandparents arrive and vanish from this earth. I have served the people of Nairobi well as I drain into the Indian Ocean. Now I too am dying, a former shell of what I used to be. In fact, in some ways, I am already dead. There are no longer fish swimming in my waters, no mudfish hiding and fertilizing their eggs in my muddy banks. The birds no longer fly by to grab the fleshy worms that call me home. I have been left lonely and abandoned.
A young boy sits next to the polluted river.
All people do is throw trash at me. There is a child seated with a despaired look on his face, I can feel his hopelessness radiating. He is not perturbed by the foul smell that is emanating from my belly. The water has turned dark, acrid, and poisonous – even for the slightest life. Only thirty years ago I was vibrant with activity.
A woman drinks clean, clear water straight from the river. In the past, the River Athi provided fresh water to local communities for drinking and cooking.
Women could be seen fetching water for their household chores, men driving their cattle for their afternoon drinks. Just ahead near the lagoon, children laughing and splashing in my refreshing waters. I was proud to bring so much joy and life to these creations.
A family washing clothes and swimming (left) while a herd of cattle quench their thirst (right) in the once-healthy River Athi.
Now, as I move downstream, my only job is to carry waste. Plastic is embedded in my system, chemicals from industries poison me, and I am the final destination for the sewage that is exuded from settlements near my banks. I feel so toxic that I am worried for you, your generation. Look at the amount of poisonous waste in me. I am unrecognizable, and I fear I can no longer call myself a river.
But you brought this on yourself. The heavy metals you have let slip into my stream – the mercury, the lead, the copper. What about the chemicals? Do you ever think about the future? I am sure many people who drink from me have already started to feel the effects. You are inflicted by cancerous infections and dying of typhoid and cholera. The heavy metals have caused brain damage to many of your children. The disintegrated plastic is slowly and surely being infused into the sea animals you consume. For the next 50 years, things will change. Life as you know it will never be the same.
The Keyambea Youth Group cleaning a highly polluted section of the river. Chemolex has helped to empower local community service groups by providing gloves, rakes, boots, and jembes to aid their efforts.
Please, look back and reconsider. Change your ways. Organize yourselves. Have a comprehensive waste management system. I know it is not too late to start over. It will not be an easy task. I have seen youth groups and women rising to the occasion. Good job! It is the little efforts that matter. Let us all join hands and return back the life we deserve. It can, and must, be done to safeguard the lives of your future.
Taking a break from cleaning the riverbanks. In addition to cleaning up the river, Chemolex has purchased and planted trees and flowers along the river to restore these ecosystems and encourage children to play in a clean and safe environment.
The Blue Marble (NASA). The Amazon River Basin is the largest in the world by water volume.
Where rivers flow, life is found. Like veins in our bodies, rivers carry water and nutrients across our planet, allowing both human civilization and nature to flourish. But rivers also act as one of the main conduits of plastic waste into the environment – the arteries that carry waste from land to the ocean. And as we clog these arteries with plastic, we threaten the health of our planet.
In our first blog, we introduced our solution to the challenge of river plastic waste: the Clean Currents Coalition. The heart and soul of the Clean Currents Coalition are the 9 innovative and dedicated teams across the world working tirelessly to make an impact on their communities, river systems, and ultimately, the ocean.
We are excited to introduce to you the 9 amazing teams of the Clean Currents Coalition, in their own words…
Greeneration Foundation, Citarum River, Indonesia
“Our Indonesian-Finnish partnership includes Greeneration Foundation, Waste4Change and RiverRecycle, working to intercept plastic waste in the Citarum River before it enters the Java Sea. The Citarum River is the largest and longest river in West Java, supporting 25 million people and 22% of the West Java area.
The Greeneration Foundation, Waste4Change, and RiverRecycle teams discussing plans for the Citarum River. (Photo: Greeneration Foundation)
“With our capture system, we aim to collect 70 tons of waste per day. All recyclables will be recycled responsibly while low value waste will be processed using pyrolysis technology. Simultaneously, we will conduct communications and outreach aimed to improve awareness toward more responsible waste management. Once this pilot project is successful, we hope to replicate and disseminate our work in other parts of the world.”
“Our mission is to protect, restore, and create a safe future for the ocean’s fauna and flora using cutting edge technology. In partnership with the Circular Foundation, the Provincial Government of Manabí, and Impact Recycling, we are deploying the Azure System® to intercept plastics in the Portoviejo River. This interception system combines physical recovery, power generation systems, and gathering of essential data for decision-making and improving municipal waste management systems.
The Ichthion team in a virtual “Zoom” meeting – one of the many adaptations the Clean Currents Coalition teams have made to continue having an impact during a global crisis. (Photo: Ichthion)
“As the Portoviejo River travels through the Manabí province, inadequately managed waste finds its way to the water. This contamination not only affects the river’s ecosystem but also travels directly into the Pacific Ocean, affecting dozens of species and sensitive marine ecosystems such as the Galápagos Marine Reserve. Being a part of the Clean Currents Coalition is a great honor that is enabling us to deploy our technology to help one of the most impoverished communities in Ecuador and one of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world. This project will also serve as a catalyst for us to continue deploying other projects in the region and into other regions with similar plastic waste conditions.”
“At Marea Verde, a Panamanian nonprofit established in 2017, we address river and coastal pollution through civic action and innovative technological solutions. We work in the Matías Hernández watershed with projects in environmental education, beach and mangrove cleanups, and a floating barrier to capture waste flowing down the river.
Marea Verde team members remove waste trapped by their floating barrier system in the Matías Hernández River, Panama City. (Photo: Marea Verde)
“As part of the Clean Currents Coalition we will work with urban communities upriver, understand their waste behavior and the incentives that could drive behavior change. We will also upgrade our capture system similar to Baltimore Bay’s Mr. Trash Wheel. A diverse and professional team has come together for this project, including Baltimore’s Clearwater Mills, Panama’s Technological University, and Wisy, an AI startup. We are excited and look forward to an enriching experience and active exchange among Coalition members during this journey.”
“The Foundation is excited to share the learnings from this comprehensive river cleanup initiative with the Clean Currents Coalition members as we work together to identify and implement new and innovative approaches to tackle the issues of marine plastics in our rivers.”
“The Ocean Cleanup, the Dutch non-profit organization developing advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic, is collaborating with the Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) to deploy an Interceptor in a multi-year project at Sandy Gully in the heart of Kingston Harbour, Jamaica.
The Ocean Cleanup founder, Boyan Slat, aboard an Interceptor in Malaysia. (Photo: The Ocean Cleanup)
“While The Ocean Cleanup provides the technology, RPJ will operate the Interceptor and ensure the environmentally sound disposal of all collected plastics and materials. Key focus will also be placed on a robust communication and community education program that will encourage proper waste disposal and active recycling cultures. The highly visible location, which is vital to Jamaica’s tourism industry, will reaffirm the country’s strong commitment to protecting the environment and arm it with new capabilities to address the challenge. This project will be one of the first in The Ocean Cleanup’s mission to tackle the 1000 heaviest polluting rivers in the world.
“Being part of the Clean Currents Coalition is a great way to exchange ideas, experiences and best practices in dealing with plastic waste in rivers around the world, and will provide an excellent platform to demonstrate the importance of addressing rivers in solving the ocean plastic problem.”
“The Song Hong (Red River) weaves through northern Vietnam, ending in the coastal province of Nam Dinh. At the river’s mouth is a RAMSAR site–Xuan Thuy National Park–which boasts rich migratory bird habitat and mangroves that support local fisheries. Unfortunately, it’s under threat by plastic waste. A 2019 study conducted by Ocean Conservancy and partners indicates a negative relationship between the quantity of marine debris in the park and mangrove health.
The Ocean Conservancy team on the Song Hong. (Photo: Ocean Conservancy)
“To help reduce the pressure on this vital ecosystem, Ocean Conservancy has teamed up with a leading Vietnamese NGO, the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD), to install five river plastic capture devices at several waste hotspots in Nam Dinh. The team will also measure the impact of the traps with Dr. Chelsea Rochman (University of Toronto), and work with political leaders at all levels to help drive improvements in the waste management and recycling systems. Building on our International Coastal Cleanup, our team will work to engage the public in reducing ocean-bound plastic. Through the Clean Currents Coalition we’re excited to exchange lessons learned with other groups tackling similar problems.”
“At Renew Oceans we believe clean oceans begin with clean rivers. We are working to reduce ocean plastic waste where it begins – in populous, river-adjacent communities.
Sorting through waste collected and removed from the Assi River, a tributary of the Ganges River in the holy city of Varanasi, India. (Photo: Renew Oceans)
“Our inaugural project Renew Ganga is located along the Assi River, a tributary of the Ganges River (Ganga in Hindi). Renew Ganga employs a 3 C approach – collection of land and river-based plastics, conversion of that plastic into fuel or recycled material, and community engagement, awareness building, and behavior change. Though behavior change and awareness doesn’t happen overnight, our team is dedicated to working alongside waste pickers, policymakers, educators, and volunteers to continually reduce river plastic waste in the Assi. We are excited to be part of the Clean Currents Coalition and join a global network of organizations working collaboratively to eliminate river plastic waste.”
“The Clean Currents Coalition is a great way to exchange ideas, experiences and best practices in dealing with plastic waste in rivers around the world, and will provide an excellent platform to demonstrate the importance of addressing rivers in solving the ocean plastic problem.“
“Chemolex Company is a fast-growing social enterprise based in Nairobi, Kenya. We have partnered with Smart Villages Research Group to develop and install innovative plastic capture devices at strategic locations within River Athi and its tributaries such as River Nairobi, Ngong and Mbagathi.
A boom is installed in the Nairobi River to collect data on plastic waste and hydrological conditions to develop a capture device suited to the river site. (Photo: Chemolex Company)
“With this project, we hope to stop the existing marine plastic waste problem that is fed by the vast amounts of plastic waste in the upstream sections of River Athi. By installing these devices, we will also be able to obtain data and scientific information on river plastic waste. These data will be utilized in developing policy documents and undertaking comprehensive awareness campaigns in Kenya’s urban informal settlements that release up to 2,000 tons of waste on a daily basis. The outreach programs will be centered on the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), to help enable sustainable plastic waste management in Kenya. In addition, an average of 10 tons of plastic waste collected from the various river segments will be used to produce affordable and effective construction materials such as fencing poles, tiles and pavement blocks. To maximize the social impacts of this project, we are partnering with community based organizations (CBOs) and women and youth groups in managing the plastic capture devices. These groups will be trained on how to develop sustainable enterprises within the waste management sector.”
“The TerraCycle Global Foundation is building upon an existing partnership with its Thai-based affiliated partner, the TerraCycle Thai Foundation and local environmental NGO, the Blue Carbon Society, to implement a community-focused marine plastic capture system and communication initiative in the Lat Phrao Canal in Bangkok. This waterway traverses a densely populated, low income canal community with more than 100,000 residents and is an integral link in Bangkok’s extensive canal system connected to the Chao Phraya River, Thailand’s longest and most polluted river which empties directly into the Gulf of Thailand. The Foundation is excited to share the learnings from this comprehensive river cleanup initiative with the Clean Currents Coalition members as we work together to identify and implement new and innovative approaches to tackle the issues of marine plastics in our rivers.”
In a Bangkok canal, waste is funneled to a collection basket where it is removed and repurposed by the TerraCycle team. (Photo: TerraCycle Global Foundation)
“With offices on both sides of the US-Mexico border, WILDCOAST and our partners are directly affected by Tijuana-generated plastics and tires that are transported by the binational Tijuana River into coastal areas that eventually enter the Pacific Ocean. In Tijuana, uncollected plastics and chronic illegal dumping in canyons and ravines along the river contribute significantly to marine pollution on both sides of the border. This pollution impacts fragile ecosystems and wildlife as well as public health. Currently, the only plastics-intercepting infrastructure is located in the US. It is imperative to build matching infrastructure in Mexico to address the problem closer to the source. We are very excited to have the support of the Clean Currents Coalition, which will allow us to remedy this issue.”
Tires and other forms of waste are removed from a creek bed during a river cleanup led by WILDCOAST. (Photo: WILDCOAST)
Hungry for more about these innovative teams and the rivers that inspire them? Check back in over the next few weeks as we let the Clean Currents Coalition teams themselves take the blogging stage to share their own stories from the riverbank.
The blowout of Union Oil’s Platform A released 3 million gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean, coating 800 sq. miles of ocean and killing thousands of seabirds, marine mammals, and fish. It is the third largest oil spill in the history of the United States, behind only the BP Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez spills. (Photo: Santa Barbara Maritime Museum/Dick Smith Collection)
On January 28, 1969, catastrophe struck. When an offshore oil platform off the California coast experienced a blow-out, over 3 million gallons of crude oil gushed into the Pacific Ocean. But while a black tide smothered the coastline, a green tide rose in the small California seaside town of Santa Barbara and quickly spread across the globe. In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated. Today it is the largest secular observance in the world, engaging over 1 billion people in 192 countries.
Fifty years later, the penchant for sparking global action remains strong in Santa Barbara. The Benioff Ocean Initiative, based at the University of California Santa Barbara, channels that spirit of global action to tackle the most pressing issues facing our ocean. Only now the focus has shifted to a new environmental problem: plastics.
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) campus, home to the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the Marine Science Institute. (Photo: Marine Science Institute, UCSB).
Plastics are remarkable materials. They are strong, durable, flexible, and easy to produce. From their use in cars and electronics to food packaging and healthcare, plastics are ubiquitous in modern life. Since 1950, over 7.8 billion tons of new plastics have been produced – the equivalent of 1 ton for every person currently living on Earth.
Of those 7.8 billion tons, only 9% have ever been recycled.
Some have been incinerated (12%), but the vast majority remain overflowing in landfills and accumulating in the environment. And once they are in the environment, the ultimate fate of many plastics is the ocean. Every year, up to 12 million tons of plastics enter the ocean. It is predicted that by 2050 there will be more plastics in the ocean by weight than fish.
While some plastics — like fishing gear — enter the ocean directly, most are transported from land, much of which is via rivers. Up to 275 tons of plastics enter the ocean from rivers every hour.
Because of this, rivers offer a unique opportunity to fight the plastics crisis. In the ocean, plastics are carried to hard-to-reach places like the open ocean, down the water column, and to the sea floor. Rivers, on the other hand, are accessible, relatively shallow, and act as point sources of plastics. To turn off the tap of plastics entering the ocean, rivers are a great place to start.
Theoretical design of a river plastic capture device. Floating booms guide plastic waste to collection points.
With this knowledge, the Benioff Ocean Initiative and The Coca-Cola Foundation have partnered to create and support a global network of innovative, mission-driven problem solvers: the Clean Currents Coalition.
Consisting of 9 teams in 9 different countries, the Clean Currents Coalition is combating the flow of plastic waste from rivers to the ocean. The interdisciplinary teams of the Clean Currents Coalition are developing new and innovative technologies to capture plastic waste in highly-polluted rivers and to repurpose and recycle the collected materials.
But the intervention doesn’t stop there. While there are many noble plastics clean up efforts underway around the world, the Clean Currents Coalition is taking it one step further. Through extensive data collection and pioneering the use of new technologies like artificial intelligence, we are compiling a standardized, global dataset of plastic waste in the environment to better inform scientific research and management strategies. The teams are also working closely with their local communities to create real change surrounding policy, infrastructure, and behavior related to plastic waste. Our goal is that one day, thanks to the Clean Currents Coalition, there will no longer be plastic waste in our rivers to remove.
The Clean Currents Coalition consists of 9 teams working in 9 countries: Ecuador (Portoviejo River), India (Assi River), Indonesia (Citarum River), Jamaica (Kingston Harbor), Kenya (Nairobi & Athi Rivers), Mexico (Tijuana River), Panama (Matías Hernández River), Thailand (Lat Phrao Canal), and Vietnam (Song Hong River).
Today, each Clean Currents Coalition team is working in one community on one river system. But together, through collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and a common goal, our ambition is to use what we learn and help replicate these successes to more and more river communities around the world. We are taking the lead on global action to fight a global problem.
Join us on the journey of the Clean Currents Coalition. Follow us on this blog as we share the unique stories of these rivers and their communities as they work towards cleaner currents.
