Taiwan has drawn up a nationwide plan to channel construction waste to ports, farmland and offshore reclamation sites, after the government warned that existing legal disposal capacity could be exhausted within two to three years if development continues at its current pace.
The interior ministry said it began enforcing a “full flow management” policy this year to track construction soil and debris from source to final destination, aiming to curb illegal dumping and burial.
But a recent government inventory showed that approved landfill-style soil resource sites and major public works, including projects at Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung ports, can absorb only about 90 million cubic metres, a volume officials say will be used up within a few years.
Taiwan generates an estimated 39–46 million cubic metres of construction waste annually.
In August 2025, the cabinet approved the “Final Disposal Planning Scheme for Surplus Construction Soil and Rock”, setting out three main channels: ports, land-based sites and the sea.
Under the plan, existing commercial ports and the Changbin Industrial Park remain the most developed outlets. Future port reclamation projects will be required to allocate at least 50 per cent of their capacity to construction waste, replacing traditional sand dredging.
For offshore disposal, the government overlaid environmental sensitivity data to identify 73 “potential land reclamation locations” around Taiwan, covering about 33,000 hectares. Officials estimate these areas could theoretically absorb nearly 2 billion cubic metres of material – roughly 50 years of current waste output. Any proposal would still need to pass feasibility studies, coastal management reviews and environmental impact assessments.
On land, the scheme allows for expansion of landfill-style soil sites and the use of severely subsiding private farmland for soil improvement, provided only “clean, high-quality” construction material suitable for agriculture is used. In 2023, authorities identified 2,385 hectares of farmland nationwide as severely affected by land subsidence.
Domestic environmental groups warned the plan places too much emphasis on expanding disposal capacity rather than reducing waste at the source, saying Taiwan’s limited land and marine space means final disposal sites will inevitably run out. They said offshore reclamation should be tied only to genuine infrastructure needs such as port or airport expansion, rather than projects aimed primarily at creating dumping outlets for construction waste.
The groups also cautioned that proposed sites off Taiwan’s west coast could disrupt seabed ecosystems and intertidal zones, particularly if different types of soil and rock are used in muddy marine environments.
The Environmental Protection Administration, now the Environment Ministry, in 2012 proposed an environmental impact assessment for offshore waste disposal islands, but withdrew the plan in 2014 to revisit its waste management strategy.
Government officials said the mapped sites are only preliminary.
“The potential locations do not mean they will be developed,” said Tseng Sheng-feng, a section chief at the National Land Management Agency, in an interview with local media. He said projects must demonstrate an actual development need to clear the review process, citing Taipei Port as a past example. He added that construction soil and rock can be more stable than sand dredged for reclamation, reducing the risk of uneven settlement or soil liquefaction.
The planning scheme also calls for developers to cut waste at source through better on-site sorting, material exchanges between public works projects and increased reuse of construction resources before sending residual material to final disposal.
