the Republic of Korea

Prevention and reduction of plastic waste generation

Charge for single-use plastic products (e.g. shopping bags, straws)

Names of actions:
Restriction of single -use plastic products

Targeted products:
plastic bags, plastic cups and straws

Brief description:
The ministry of Environment of Korea(MOE) introduced a regulation to gradually ban single-use plastic products until 2027.

Actions for encouraging sustainable / circular product design

Names of actions:
The 1 ^st National Resource Circulation Plan(2018~2027)

Brief description:
A long term national plan and roadmap which aims to make a transition to the circular economy were established by MOE in accordance with ‘Framework act on resource circulation’.

As an outcome of the plan, Circular economy forum was hosted by the MOE in March of 2021 with participation of multi-stakeholders to discuss environment-friendly design of plastic products as well as ways to promote recycling of home appliances and batteries.

Regulation on microplastics

Names of actions:

1. Regulation on cosmetic products(2017)

   Brief description:
   Regulation that ban all cosmetic products contain microplastics under 5mm was introduced in 2017 by MOE.

2. Regulation on use of micro-bead(2021)

   Brief description:
   MOE has announced the regulation to ban the use of micro-bead on all cleansing agents, detergents and removers manufactured in and outside of ROK.

Measures

Achievements

Environmentally sound waste management

Enforcement of proper waste management system

Names of actions:
The 1 ^st National Resource Circulation Plan(2018~2027)

Brief description:
In accordance with ‘Framework act on resource circulation’, ‘The 1 ^st national resource circulation plan was established to set out the path for more sound waste management system in ROK with the specific goal to decrease the amount of GDP-waste generation ratio of ROK by 20% until 2027.

The plan was established based on resource circulation and life-cycle approach and it comprises of 4 main strategies which can work on each stage of product’s life cycle from production to recycle. 1) Establishing resource effective system at the product manufacturing stage using resource circulation approach, 2) Promote green comsumption by minimizing the use of single-use products, 3) Enhance waste disposal system through governance, 4) Accelerate material recycling including plastic and batteries through R&D projects and institutional support.

Prevention of littering, illegal dumping and unintentional leakage of waste into the ocean

Names of actions: The 3 ^rd national action plan on rivers and estuaries(2021-2025)

Brief description: MOE establishes a national action plan every 5 years to effectively manage rivers and estuaries in particular that can be easily polluted by the waste entering from the land. The plan takes multi-faceted approaches using life-cycle and resource circulation approach.

Measures

Achievements

Cleanup of marine plastic litter

Collection of scattered waste on beach

Names of actions:

1. International Coastal clean up day
2. Coastal clean up day
3. Marine Environment keepers

Brief description:

1. On third friday of september every year MOF holds International Coastal Clean up day ceremony where multi-stakeholders participate in clean-up activity at a beach.
2. On third Friday of every month MOF and Korea marine Envrionment Management Corporation(KOEM) conduct nation-wide coastal clean-up activity at 12 different regions.
3. Marine environment keepers

MOF organizes a group of local residents who live nearby the sea and assign them a mission to oversee the coast. With financial support from MOF ,Marine envrionment keepers carry out clean-up activity to remove marine plastic at a beach

Removal of plastic litter from the ocean

Names of actions:
1. National marine litter removal project

Brief description:
MOF has been implementing a national scale removal project targeting the seaside, national ports and fishing ports and major fishing areas of Korea and now expand the targeting area even farther to cover blind spots such as remote islands.

A part of a project involves operation of clean-up vessels which remove marine litter at all national ports and fishing ports on a regular basis.

MOF also regularly conducts sunken litter distribution monitoring to selectively choose the area with high pollution level of sunken litter and implement sunken litter removal project accordingly.

Measures

Achievements

Promotion of innovative solutions

Policy actions for encouraging plastic alternatives (e.g. biodegradable plastics, circular product design – including use of recycled materials or closed loop recycling and so on’)

Names of actions:

1. Biodegradable fishing gears dissemination

   Brief description: National enterprise where MOF develops and disseminates eco-friendly fishery equiments such as nets and buoys to fishermen.

2. National R&D project to invent microplastic removal equipment and develop plastic-to-energy technology(2021-2024)

   Brief description: MOF is currently pushing forward a R&D project to develop an equipment that can effectively remove microplastic on beaches. Another objective of the project is to invent the technology and facility which will allow people to utilize marine plastic litter to generate energy.

Public-private partnerships for creating and implementing innovative solution

Names of actions:
Adopt-a-beach project

Brief description: MOF is working on establishing a system where MOF matches a group of people(NGOs, Corporations etc.) with a beach to facilitate private sector’s participation in coastal clean-up activities.

Measures

Achievements

Education and awareness raising

Education system for encouraging public awareness on MPL issues

‘The comprehensive plan on marine environment education (2021-2025) will be announced this year in accordance with ‘Environment education promotion act’. Based on the plan, MOF will provide online education programs to raise awareness on marine litter and to encourage people to protect the marine envriionment starting from this year.

Along with this, ‘The 1 ^st national action plan on marine litter and marine contaminated sediments(2021-2030)’ includes the comprehensive public awareness plan to provide marine litter education targeting all age groups through collborative work between MOF and KOEM.

Awareness raising campaigns related to MPL

National level:

Names of actions:

1. Comprehensive plan on raising marine litter awareness

   Brief description:
   MOF and KOEM establish a comprehensive plan every year to effectively raise public awareness on marine litter using various measures such as online and offline public campaigns and collaboration with the private sector.

2. Collaborative work with the private sector

   Brief description:
   KOEM which is an affiliated organization of MOF signed MOU with two major corporations P&G korea and Terracycle korea to recycle marine plastic litter and jointly work on public campaigns and clean-up activities to reduce the use of plastic products and to protect the marine environment.

International / Regional level:

Names of actions:
Strengthening and Improvement for Marine Litter response in Indonesia

Brief description: ‘Strengthening and Improvement for Marine Litter Response in Indonesia’ is an ODA project of MOF which aims to enhance the marine litter response capacity of Indonesia through a capacity bulding workshop and marine litter monitoring education program targeting marine litter related stakeholders such goverment officials, NGOs and Local residents.

National level:

We see a positive improvement from last two years

International / Regional level:

We see a positive improvement from last two years

Measures

Achievements

Monitoring & Scientific research on marine plastic litter

Actions for encouraging monitoring / scientific research on plastic flows and ocean surface microplastics

Names of actions:

1. National Marine Litter Monitoring Program

   Brief description: To understand the pollution level of marine litter in the seaside and elucidating the origin of it, MOF has been conducting National Marine Litter Monitoring program at 40 spots since 2008.

2. Microplastic distribution monitoring research

   Brief description: From 2021, MOF conducts microplastic monitoring research to evaluate the pollution level of microplastic in the marine environment. The research is carried out with 4 target subjects; sea surface, seaside, marine biota and marine sediment.

1) Actions for encouraging monitoring / scientific research on plastic flows and ocean surface microplastics

We see a positive improvement from last two years

Engagement in international/regional level actions for encouraging monitoring / scientific research on plastic flows and ocean surface microplastics

Names of actions:
Strengthening and Improvement for Marine Litter response in Indonesia

Brief description:
‘Strengthening and Improvement for Marine Litter response in Indonesia’ project aims to enhance the marine litter monitoring capacity of Indonesia through a joint pilot marine litter monitoring conducted in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia. Through this project, MOF is also working with the indonesian government to establish a guideline to properly conduct marine litter monitoring in Indonesia through.