TWO government agencies — the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) — have joined forces to design a floating solid waste collector system for Pasig River and Laguna Lake.

"We are very proud of having been able to design and develop a floating trash collector," said Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum during the project's launch on Thursday at the Pasig River Esplanade in Manila.

Solidum said the harvester that runs on gasoline could collect at least 5 cubic meters per minute of solid waste.

He added that it would boost government efforts to clean the Pasig River and Laguna Lake of solid waste, particularly water hyacinths.

"This means it can collect tons and tons of trash daily," he said.

The machine was set to go through several tests before deployment.

"This is an example of the effectiveness of collaborating with other government agencies. It advertises the ability of the DoST to partner with local government agencies and other national government agencies and help solve their problems in their mandates," Solidum said.