San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has achieved a new milestone in its river cleanup advocacy, having removed a total of 6 million metric tons of silt and solid waste from various river systems in and around Metro Manila.
This total includes more than 3 million tons recently extracted from over 50 kms of rivers across the flood-prone Bulacan province, as part of a major expansion of the conglomerate’s cleanup initiative. These rivers traverse the cities and towns of Meycauayan, Obando, Bulakan, Bocaue, Marilao, Balagtas and Guiguinto in Bulacan.
This is by far the largest and most extensive river cleanup initiative undertaken by SMC under a long-term, comprehensive effort it started in 2020 to clean up heavily-polluted river systems including the Pasig River, Tullahan River, and San Juan River.
It has successfully removed nearly 1.2 million metric tons of waste from 26 kilometers of the Pasig River; 1.1 million tons from 11 kms. of the Tullahan River, and almost 320,000 tons from the San Juan river, from 2020 to date.
In October last year, SMC announced that it was expanding its river cleanup initiative in Bulacan and to other provinces and cities, including Pampanga, Navotas, Laguna and Cavite, in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and local government units.
Its efforts to desilt the San Isidro River in San Pedro, Laguna has since yielded 343,836 tons of silt and wastes, to date.
SMC is also gearing up to clean 26 kms. of the heavily silted Pampanga River, which also flows down to Bulacan, and has been identified as a major cause of flooding in both provinces and other nearby areas.
