We’ve been busy behind the scenes bringing our No-Trash River project to life. Late last year, we were awarded funding by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to prevent the tonnes of rubbish that flow through Manado’s rivers each year from entering the ocean. Our ambitious project caught the attention of GIZ’s decision makers because of the holistic approach No-Trash Triangle Initiative takes when it comes to tackling plastic pollution. We’re not only looking at physical solutions - we’re also looking at how we can engage the local community, educating and inspiring behavioural change amongst children and elders alike.

Our team has been busy since March putting in the groundwork to bring our vision to life. We’ve been preparing for the installation of river barriers at four different locations. We thought we’d share an insight into how we’ve approached this project.

Step 1: Site assessment

Our journey begins with a series of site assessments. We evaluate the rivers’ flow depth, width, water strength, pollution levels and the local ecosystem to ensure we’d be able to make the best impact. We used river pollution maps provided by 3RProMar to evaluate potential sites, spending 4 days surveying various locations around Manado. 18 sites met the requirements for barrier installation.

Step 2: Site selection

After our initial assessment, it was time to select which sites to take forward for barrier installation. Again, we looked at factors like water flow, accessibility and how we would impact local wildlife. We printed out pictures of the spots we surveyed and identified the most suitable locations for installation in H1 2024. We decided to tackle the first four spots using 49 river barriers. Two will be installed in the River Sario, one in Batu Kota Malalayang and one in Pakowa, at points where significant amounts of rubbish were found.

Step 3: Making trial modules On March 25th, we started making our first trial module using a lined iron technique.For our second trial module, we used the grill method. Having considered factors like production cost and material weight, we decided to go with the grill module as our final design.

Step 4: Anchorage point

Our engineering team, visited the four fixed spots to better understand how we’d install the anchorage required to fix the river barriers in place. We looked at things like riverbed composition, water flow and ease of access to ensure a stable and effective installation. On 30th May, we did our first trial anchorage installation. It didn’t go as smoothly as we hoped but that’s okay! It’s all part of our test and learn process. We’re excited to try again next month.

Step 5: Module construction

Having decided on our preferred module design, we started building the fixed barriers needed for our four chosen river locations. We began by making 14 modules at Jembatan Kuning Sario. The construction went well so we went ahead and bought the 35 additional barriers needed.

Step 6: First installation

Installation day is just around the corner thanks to everyone’s hard work! This is the moment we’re most excited about, as we start to see our dream become a reality, stopping tonnes of plastic from entering the Bunaken Marine Park.

Stay tuned to see how we get on with our first installation and community engagement. This is just the beginning for our No-Trash River project.

No-Trash River Project - Countdown to our first installation