Turning river waste into sustainable boards

November 26, 2025

MANILA / HAMBURG, Germany — In several of the Philippines’ most polluted waterways, Finnish startup RiverRecycle is deploying floating trash-collection booms that function like giant nets, trapping plastic waste before it reaches the ocean. The company warns that if global pollution continues at the current pace, plastics could outweigh fish in the world’s oceans by 2050.

The cleanup process relies heavily on manual labor. Workers remove accumulated waste from the booms, sort out plastic materials, bag them, and transport them to shore. From there, collection trucks deliver the waste to nearby recycling facilities, where the plastic is sorted, washed, shredded, and compressed at 200°C into vibrant, durable boards measuring 2 square meters each.

Sorting the waste is difficult and dirty work. Laborers separate high-density and low-density polyethylene bags, clear food wrappers, and multilayer sachets with aluminum lining. At facilities lacking dedicated washing machinery, workers must wash the plastics by hand.

Founded in Helsinki in 2019, RiverRecycle transforms these recovered plastics into colorful, waterproof, and termite-resistant boards that offer an eco-friendly alternative to traditional plywood and fiberboard.

“At present, in developing countries like the Philippines, no single group is responsible for preventing plastic waste from flowing into rivers,” RiverRecycle Marketing Specialist Michelle Fermin told Nikkei Asia during the PackPrintPlas Philippines trade show in September.

She explained that local organizations often handle only parts of the waste-management chain, such as river cleanup or collecting high-value plastics. Low-value plastics—which make up a large portion of pollution—often have no scalable solution. RiverRecycle aims to fill that gap by offering a full end-to-end waste-recovery and recycling system.

Research shows that about 1,000 rivers, mostly in densely populated areas across developing countries in Asia, are responsible for the majority of global plastic leakage. Many have no infrastructure to handle low-value waste streams.

India was RiverRecycle’s first operational site in 2020. Since then, the company has expanded to six river-cleaning installations in India, five in the Philippines, one in Indonesia, two in Bangladesh, and two in Ghana. Sixteen more projects are in development—five of which will soon launch in the Philippines.

To minimize transportation costs, the recycling facilities are positioned close to the rivers, typically within 200 meters to 2 kilometers.

RiverRecycle CFO Tina Nyfors explained in a follow-up interview that the complexity of river environments makes human labor more practical than automation.
For example, Mumbai’s Mithi River changes flow direction twice daily due to tidal movement, requiring a different system compared to Bandung’s steady, one-directional flows. Expensive, automated sorting technology also risks theft, she said. Instead, the company employs around 696 informal waste pickers, offering stable, fair compensation and supporting local livelihoods.

Mechanized sorting is further complicated by topography. The distance between riverbanks and booms varies widely, and some access roads sit several meters above the water.

While RiverRecycle does not disclose exact wages, it notes that workers are paid based on the quantity of plastic they collect and sell each day, with earnings varying by individual.

RiverRecycle’s partners include the Coca-Cola Foundation, HCL Tech, and the World Economic Forum. Local customers include Tambay Cycling Hub near the Pasig River, which uses the recycled boards for displays and shelving, and Fablab-TESDA in Cebu, a government-backed training facility that crafts sustainable furniture using RiverRecycle boards. Fablab cuts the boards using precision CNC machines and assembles them with screws or 3D-printed interlocking joints.

“We’ve replaced traditional materials like MDF, acrylic, and plywood, enabling us to reduce waste and support circular design principles,” said Ryan Dela Pena, a Fablab instructor.

The recycling process does not require added chemicals or water, though heating the plastic produces a slight odor. Still, RiverRecycle reports that the environmental impact is minimal.

RiverRecycle was one of several exhibitors at PackPrintPlas showcasing European-developed green technologies for the Philippines’ plastic-waste crisis. Another standout was Precious Plastics, a global open-hardware recycling initiative from the Netherlands. Working with Manila’s Material Recovery Facility, Precious Plastics demonstrated products made from bottle caps and sachets using compact shredders and a small extrusion machine designed by a Dutch engineer.

But challenges persist. Because sachets are extremely lightweight, transporting them is unprofitable—workers paid by the kilo earn little for collecting them. The shredded flakes are also light and fluffy, making them difficult to feed consistently into machines. Inconsistent material quality can damage equipment, requiring constant adjustments to heat levels and additives. After eight years of trials, the company has developed a more tolerant, durable machine.

The Philippines, home to 115 million people, generates approximately 2.3 million tons of plastic waste each year, according to the National Research Council. Only 28% of major plastic resins are recycled; the remainder is discarded, and an estimated 20%–35% ends up in the ocean.

Since beginning operations in the Philippines in 2022, RiverRecycle reports that it has collected nearly 2.5 million kilograms of waste from local waterways.