Pasig River Plastic Waste Discovery Space

The Pasig River Digital Twin Project is a transformative effort aimed at addressing plastic pollution in one of the world's most significant river systems. Contributing over 6% of global ocean plastic from rivers, the Pasig River presents an urgent environmental challenge that this project seeks to address through innovative solutions and cutting-edge technology.

How can we leverage digital twin technology to effectively reduce plastic pollution in the Pasig River, one of the largest contributors to global ocean plastic, by developing scalable and data-driven solutions?

This initiative begins with the Pasig River Plastic Waste Discovery Space, a controlled environment where participants can collaboratively test models and strategies for reducing plastic pollution. The goal is to simulate interventions before real-world implementation, ensuring effective, scalable solutions. This model will then be integrated into the wider Pasig River Digital Twin program and assist with ADB’s support in strengthening capabilities for a local-level implementation of the Philippine Government’s National Plan of Action (NPOA) on Marine Litter.

A Discovery Space is a virtual testing environment that allows participants to safely experiment with models, simulations, and data. For the Pasig River project, this means that interventions to reduce plastic pollution can be tested without risk, enabling stakeholders to identify the most effective strategies for long-term river rejuvenation.

The discovery space methodology, supported by the ADB Challenges platform, encourages collaboration among government agencies, academia, private industry, and local communities. Participants will have the opportunity to work together, refine models, and generate data-driven insights that will inform the development of a comprehensive Pasig River Digital Twin which will be separately procured by 2025.