해양오염퇴적물의 법적 성격과 그 관리법제 개선방안

The need to dredge in public waters and coastal areas have always existed in the perspective of improving the environment of polluted areas, maintaining ports and sea routes and creating new ocean space. This calls for effective and systematic management and regulation of contaminated sediment through efficient and methodical dredging and purification processes. For this to happen, it is important to prepare specific standards, procedures and methods of dredging, purifying, treating, disposing and recycling of dredged materials. It's fortunate that the Ocean Waste and Contaminated Sediments Management Act was enacted to set the stage for the purification of marine sediments. While the Act is highly appreciated for being introduced as an exclusive legislation for marine sediments separate from waste, it fails to establish some basic concepts on key words, such as, dredged materials, removal, purification, treatment and disposal, all of which are necessary to clarify in order to manage and establish rules on contaminated sediments. It also lacks specific guidelines, standards and measures on the management, handling and disposal of the sediments. This tells it's likely for marine sediments and dredged materials to have little legal standing, making it difficult to manage and regulate them. This also means the collection to purification, treatment and disposal of marine sediments probably isn't taking place in a systematic and consistent manner. Concepts need to be established and details on the content and methods must be set to solve the problem. Considering that the key to managing marine sediments lies in its purification and recycling processes, it is also necessary to review measures on building a purification system and boosting recycling.