A private firm on Saturday expressed intention to clear and clean up the so-called “overly-polluted” Pasig River, free of charge.
Filipino entrepreneur and environmentalist Mariano Jose Diaz Villafuerte IV, chief executive officer of Cypherodin Inc. and cryptocurrency Botcoin, said his firm is interested to clean up the 27-kilometer long Pasig River using blockchain distributed ledge platform (DLT).
“We first came up with the idea of showcasing how blockchain technology can solve real world problems and clean up the environment specifically, using Boracay Island [a world famous tourist resort island in central Philippines] as an example. However, the government shut the island down in April, so we looked at the Pasig River instead as the next most important body of water in the country,” Villafuerte said in a statement.
He explained how his company plans to install internet of things (IoT) devices on the river and underwater (IOUT) to monitor water quality or tide levels and other relevant data to track and monitor their progress in real time. This will enable them to generate and analyse the data produced that will serve to create the impact they are looking for towards solving the plastic and garbage problem that silts the river.
For even more utility, he said Cypherodin would be using drones to map the plastic using LIDAR on a microscopic level.
“We will collect all the data we gather from these IoT and process them so we will have comprehensive information on where the plastics and garbage are coming from, how they are moving, among others. This would allow us to analyze and come up with recommendations on how to best clean up the rivers of this debris,” Villafuerte said.
But as part of its holistic approach, Villafuerte said they also plan on launching a massive information drive, particularly to communities along the riverbanks and near the river about the importance of proper garbage disposal and how to protect the environment.
The communities, he said, would be incentivized with Botcoin cryptocurrency for a certain amount of garbage they collected on the river and for not throwing plastics on it. Botcoin is the first digital currency which aims to create a world free of waste and restored to its pristine state.
“This would encourage the community also to respect the river because they will be earning something from it,” Villafuerte added.
Currently, Cypherodin is looking for collaborators along with government agencies, including the Pasig River Rehabilitation Council to implement the project.
But more importantly, he said, his company is offering its services to the government for free.
Villafuerte said the information, analysis, and findings of their research could be used to clean up other dirty rivers across the world like the Ganges River in India, the Amazon in Brazil and Yangtze in China, among others.
“This is blockchain as a service (BaaS) and data as a service (DaaS),” Villafuerte said because by then, the information will be highly sought after.
According to Villafuerte, the Botcoin is part of an ecosystem that aims to test and initiate blockchain applications that make a difference in the world and bring solutions to significant issues like plastic waste around the world. He added Botcoin will start an initial coin offering (ICO) private sale on August 14 to raise funds.
“The planet is covered in plastic and it’s high time someone brings a sustainable solution to it. Botcoin is one of the first cryptocurrency ventures to focus on the ongoing plastic crisis through the promising blockchain technology,” he said.
Pasig River is historically an important transportation route and water source in Metro Manila but has since been declared overly-polluted by ecologists.