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Government Agencies Recognized for Excellent Performance in River Garbage Removal

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On 4 October, the MOENV held the 2022 National River and Groundwater Garbage Removal Evaluation and Award Ceremony. The MOENV commended 24 outstanding government agencies for their performance in the evaluation, and recognized the collaborative efforts across government departments. It also encouraged the continued implementation of the “Respect the Ocean” (向海致敬) initiative, which promoted three key cleanliness maintenance measures: regular cleaning, immediate cleaning, and emergency cleaning. These measures help maintain the cleanliness of land and water bodies, safeguarding rivers and marine resources.

The results of the 2022 evaluation were impressive, with an overall improvement in the scores compared to previous years. Out of the 49 government agencies evaluated, 19 counties and agencies received the high distinction honors, while five agencies, including the New Taipei City Government, Yunlin County Government, Miaoli County Government, the Ninth River Management Branch of the Water Resources Agency, and the Nantou Management Office of the Irrigation Agency, received the excellence honors. Notably, six government agencies, including Taipei City, Tainan City, Hsinchu City, Hualien County, Taitung County, and the Third River Management Branch of the Water Resources Agency, received the high distinction honors for four consecutive years since the evaluation was launched in 2019.

During 2022, the nationwide efforts included 11,266 garbage removal operations and 19,360 inspections, with a total of 6,876 metric tons of garbage removed. Among the removed garbage, 4.5% was human-made, with the majority comprising garbage packs (57%) and plastics (13%). The winning counties and cities this year implemented distinctive approaches to garbage removal in rivers, including Taipei City's use of mechanized garbage retrieval equipment and boats and seamless transfer of garbage by dedicated vehicles, Tainan City's installation of real-time monitoring at tourist spots, Hsinchu City's increased patrolling and reporting by patrol teams, Hualien County's utilization of drones for inland water body inspections, and Taitung County's addition of garbage removal points for enhanced cleaning.

The MOENV emphasized that protecting rivers is one of its vital missions. Preventing garbage from damaging river water quality requires the cooperation of the entire nation and ongoing maintenance efforts. Everyone is encouraged to maintain a clean living-environment and work together to achieve the sustainable vision of " clean water allows fish to swim in and welcomes people." Besides participating in river and beach cleaning activities, members of the public are urged to reduce the use of single-use products in their daily lives, practice proper waste sorting and disposal, and refrain from littering, all of which contribute to maintaining a clean river environment and ecological balance.

Excerpt from Major Environmental Policies, October 2023

Source: 
Ministry of Environment
Updated: 
2023-12-07
Hit: 
3666