The British band Coldplay has sponsored the Interceptor 005 - a watercraft designed by the Dutch non-profit The Ocean Cleanup to remove plastic rubbish from our rivers. It is valued at USD 777,000 (~ RM 3.2 million). 

"Without action, there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050, which is why The Ocean Cleanup’s work is so vital. We’re proud to sponsor Interceptor 005 which will catch thousands of tons of waste before it reaches the ocean, ” it said in a statement.

This will be the second Interceptor to be deployed to Malaysia after the first one was received in August 2019 and placed in the Klang River.

This latest interceptor is locally-built in partnership with Finnish firm, Konecranes at their MHE-Demag facility in Bukit Raja, Klang and is expected to catch up to 100 tonnes of rubbish daily, especially plastics.

The Ocean Cleanup founder and chief executive officer, Boyan Slat said Malaysia is the first to receive the Interceptor 005 which is the first of two produced for series production and the first of the third-generation design to tackle the world’s 1000 most polluted rivers worldwide.

Our rivers have long been polluted, more and more each day with waste management constantly overlooked. The Klang river is so heavily polluted due to industrial discharge, improper sewage treatment, residential discharge and soil erosion. 

According to research by The Ocean Cleanup, the Klang river is in the world’s top 50 most polluted rivers, though it is not the most polluted in Malaysia. An Environmental Department (Jabatan Alam Sekitar) study showed, the number of polluted rivers significantly increased from 36.4% to 89.3% of 473 rivers observed over the course of four years.

In 2014, a total of 1.5 million sources of pollution were found in Malaysian rivers, ranging from food services establishments and wet markets, to rubber and palm oil mills.

Reference Links - 
[1] the Rakyat Post 
[2] the Star