At the Cabinet's weekly meeting Thursday, Premier Cho Jung-tai was briefed by the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) and Ministry of Environment (MOENV) on the establishment of a national-level microplastics monitoring and control network. The premier said that, as a maritime nation, Taiwan relies heavily on the ocean for both recreation and economic activity. However, the ocean also serves as the final recipient of most microplastic pollution. To maintain a cleaner ocean for the next generation, the OAC and MOENV are joining forces on land and at sea to build a national microplastics monitoring and control network.
Premier Cho said that the OAC is implementing four major action strategies to monitor marine environments and assess the impacts of microplastic pollution in the ocean. The first strategy is scientific monitoring to map the distribution of microplastics and conduct systematic tracking. The second strategy is cleanup and interception, which leverages public-private collaboration to remove marine debris floating at sea or on the seafloor. The third strategy focuses on advancing circular economy practices through collaboration with enterprises participating in the Marine Debris Recycling Coalition. The fourth strategy centers on international cooperation—building an AI-assisted marine debris image platform to export Taiwan's smart governance technologies and align with international efforts to combat plastic pollution.
The premier went on to say that, for land-based measures, the MOENV is implementing three strategies. The first is promoting lifestyle transformations by actively implementing the Resource Circulation Promotion Act, which passed its third and final reading in the Legislative Yuan on June 2. The second is advancing scientific monitoring by improving the nation's land-based detection capacity and standardizing measurement methodologies. The third is addressing cleanup and removal through cooperation among ministries, agencies and local governments to promote coastal cleanup and source reduction.