Australian Entrepreneur Hailed for Cleaning Philippines' Trash-Strewn River €“ but Will It Last?

"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 organizations," Mike Smith tells This Week in Asia.

Smith is the Australian founder of Zero Co, a company that makes plastic-free products, and he spent six weeks in the Philippines in 2023 looking for the country's most polluted water systems.

He found the Taguig-Pateros River south of Manila to be particularly polluted, and he organized a team of more than 250 environmental rangers and volunteers to clean it up, Australia's News Network reports.

"That was a light bulb moment," Smith says.

"If we want to have the biggest possible impact on this problem, then let's go to the source of the problem."

According to the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the country is the third-largest source of ocean waste in the world.

Philippines discards an estimated 3.3 kilograms of plastic waste per person into the ocean, with more than 4,800 rivers emitting more than 350,000 metric tons of non-degradable litter.

"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 Read the Entire Article


Selected Grant News Headlines

A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.

Spokane Businesses Owned by People of Color Awarded New State Grant Funds

People of color make up about 20% of Spokane County, Wash., but they own about 8% of the county's businesses, reports the Spokesman-Review. That's why the Spokane Workforce Council is...more

Press Release: Ok Arts Council Grants and Programs Offered for Fiscal Year 2025

The Oklahoma Arts Council has released its annual list of grant requests, and it's a doozy. This year's list includes a call for artists to "bring the arts to other statewide organizations," as...more

Gulf Shores Student Working to Preserve Little Lagoon Shoreline with State Grant

"I don't think many people know about our local ecosystems or recognize how important they are to keeping our beaches beautiful, keeping tourists here, and keeping our water as sparkling clean as it...more

Schools Triumph at Social Enterprise Awards

"It's a shining example of innovative education in action." That's what a Scottish government official had to say about this year's recipients of the Social Enterprise Schools Awards, which honor...more

Graeme Page: A Young Entrepreneur'S Crusade Against Cyber Predators

When West Virginia state Sen. Shelley Moore Capito signed a bill into law last month requiring all public schools in the state to teach students about online safety, she didn't just make a...more

Press Release: Ravens Provide $100,000 in Play 60 Grants

Cal Ripken Jr. is known for his achievements on and off the field, and now he's making headlines for what he doesn't do on the field. The baseball Hall of Famer, who grew up in Baltimore,...more

Reviving an Avant-Garde in India: Reliable Copy'S (Fine) Arts Dissertations Series

Sri Lanka's Faizal Faizal has been creating art since the age of 5, and she's just published her first book. It's called, appropriately, South Asia, and it focuses on the region's arts, the New...more

In Counterculture Exhibition, Undergrads Revisit What's Going On

Students at the University of Maryland are getting a taste of what it was like to grow up in the 1970s with a new exhibit in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. "Voices of the...more

Connecting The Dots Of Your Strategic Plan

When Collidescope.io co-founder and CEO Nick Lynch was looking for a new job last year, he came across an ad for a job that seemed like a no-brainer. "I am a software engineer," he wrote. "I...more

New Report by Community Foundation Illuminates Nonprofit Sector
Foundation: Community Foundation of Sarasota County

There are nearly 750 nonprofit organizations in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties in Florida, providing everything from health and youth services to education and the arts, per a new...more





Chief executive of HCT, Dai Powell, shares the experiences and practical lessons he learned along the way when teaming up with Ealing Community Transport to deliver site transport during the Olympic Park construction.



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