Students create waste hotspot tracker

There are three factors to be considered in managing river waste. These are the availability of a material recovery facility, (MRF) rainfall path and typical plastic waste accumulation spots.

Communities lacking in MRF obviously have limited waste recovery services and a high risk of plastic leakage. Knowing this as well as the pathways of plastic waste during rainfall and its accumulation spots help local officials prepare prevention, interception and cleanup operations.

A web-based tool that scores places along the Malabon-Navotas-Tullahan-Tinajeros (Manatuti) river system based on the said factors to identify which is at risk of flooding was developed by biology students from the University of Santo Tomas, winning for them an international award, Flip Science reports.

Called PATH (Plastic Assessment, Tracking, and Hotspots), the digital tool forecasts high-risk areas for plastic pollution and flooding along the Manatuti to help families prepare for floods and local officials to determine where to build an MRF according to Flip Science.

Team EMPATH composed on Brendan James Saripe, a 3rd year BS Medical Biology student of the University of Santo Tomas, classmates Sophia Nicole Mendoza and Samantha Muñoz, and James Kaleb Graycochea, a 2nd year BS Environmental Biology student of the same school, together with coaches Dr. Nikki Heherson Dagamac and Almyt Poblete, won them the Distinction Award in the 2026 ASEAN Geospatial Challenge organized by the Singapore Land Authority last 31 March in Singapore.

The competition challenges ASEAN university students to develop tools that address one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.