Workers finally tackle a swamp of plastic pollution which has been plaguing a notorious river for more than half a CENTURY.

The Pasig River, in Manila, is home to some of the worst plastic pollution in the world - with bottles, bags and cartons swamping the water.

Wildlife has been obliterated by the garbage - leaving only stagnant, dirty and foul-smelling water.

But officials were this week finally grappling with the devastating levels of junk - paddling on rafts and boats while building a new bridge which they hope will solve the problem.

Foreman Diego Oliveros said the trash had been gathering at a bottleneck at the Sevilla Bridge for ''as long as he could remember''.

He said: ''The junk has been in the river since the 1970s. It's just always been there.

''Now this bridge here is being upgraded to a folding bridge, like the ones they have overseas so that our barge will be able to cross it.

''That might also solve the garbage problem. That's what the plan is from the town hall officials.''

The river was once one of the life-lines of the city's fishing and shipping industry. But decades of industrialisation and population growth have seen it become ''biologically dead'' with tonnes of rubbish clogging the waterway and causing floods during heavy rains and creating a breeding ground of diseases.

The government has vowed to clean up the river - branded a ''cesspool'' by the president Rodrigo Duterte- and have begun by repairing the Sevilla Bridge which was contributing to a bottleneck.

The bridge is expected to be finished next year.

Workers finally tackle a swamp of plastic pollution which has been plaguing a notorious river for more than half a CENTURY.

The Pasig River, in Manila, is home to some of the worst plastic pollution in the world - with bottles, bags and cartons swamping the water.

Wildlife has been obliterated by the garbage - leaving only stagnant, dirty and foul-smelling water.

But officials were this week finally grappling with the devastating levels of junk - paddling on rafts and boats while building a new bridge which they hope will solve the problem.

Foreman Diego Oliveros said the trash had been gathering at a bottleneck at the Sevilla Bridge for ''as long as he could remember''.

He said: ''The junk has been in the river since the 1970s. It's just always been there.

''Now this bridge here is being upgraded to a folding bridge, like the ones they have overseas so that our barge will be able to cross it.

''That might also solve the garbage problem. That's what the plan is from the town hall officials.''

The river was once one of the life-lines of the city's fishing and shipping industry. But decades of industrialisation and population growth have seen it become ''biologically dead'' with tonnes of rubbish clogging the waterway and causing floods during heavy rains and creating a breeding ground of diseases.

The government has vowed to clean up the river - branded a ''cesspool'' by the president Rodrigo Duterte- and have begun by repairing the Sevilla Bridge which was contributing to a bottleneck.

The bridge is expected to be finished next year.