For years, the Mahul nallah in Wadala has carried tonnes of floating garbage through its murky waters before eventually emptying into the Arabian Sea. But this week, the neglected drain saw an unusual intervention: workers using cranes and floating platforms installed a 57-metre-long floating waste barrier designed to trap plastic and debris before it reaches the coastline.
Launched jointly by the Bharat Clean Rivers Foundation and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the indigenous “Trash Catch” or “trash boom” works like a floating conveyor system, intercepting waste flowing through the drain and channeling it to one side for extraction. According to the foundation, the Wadala installation alone is expected to prevent nearly 200 tonnes of garbage from entering Mumbai’s seas.
The Mahul project is the latest addition to Mumbai’s growing network of trash booms quietly being deployed across the city’s rivers and nallahs to tackle marine pollution.
Solid waste is often dumped directly into the minor and major drains as well as natural water bodies like Mithi river flowing through Mumbai. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
The need for floating waste barriers
Every day, Mumbai generates 6,600 metric tonnes of solid waste every day. Despite a well-oiled system which collects, transports and treats this solid waste at the Kanjurmarg and Deonar dump sites, an unaccounted chunk of waste never makes it to the landfills. Instead, solid waste is often dumped directly into the minor and major drains as well as natural water bodies like Mithi river flowing through Mumbai by citizens, informal settlements and industries situated along them. With the city’s wide network of storm water drains and nearly 82 major outfalls eventually emptying into the Arabian Sea through creeks, solid waste inevitably enters the ocean leading to water pollution.
Nearly 5,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste enters the Arabian sea through 50 drains across Mumbai, a recently concluded year-long ‘Smart River Survey’ by the organisation, The Ocean Cleanup found. According to the Netherlands-based non-profit, the pollution has a direct impact on 220 km of coastline, 152 square kilometres of mangroves and 107 protected species.
Eyeing to prevent the solid waste from entering the seas, the BMC’s Storm Water Drains (SWD) department in 2022 launched its first set of trash booms across six locations of western suburbs in a pilot initiative. The development was spurred by the National Green Tribunal’s directives to the BMC to identify mechanisms to prevent sea pollution.
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Mumbai’s trash boom network
Records procured from the civic body shows that Mumbai is home to a network of 21 active trashbooms. Of these, 17 trashbooms are installed and operated by the BMC while four have been installed through the CSR funding.
It was in 2022 where the initiative was first launched across six major drains and rivers of western suburbs. Through a contractor, the BMC installed trash booms at Dahisar river, Poisar river, Oshiwara river as well as three major drains of Gazadharband, NL road drain and Mogra nallah. “Prior to the installation of booms, we would remove the waste individually where a person would lower onto a floating platform and manually extract the solid waste or through machines. However, the scope of the waste removal through this process was very limited. It demanded more manpower and energy only for the waste to re-appear.”
The installation of trashbooms brought in a positive change. The civic official added, “The process became entirely automated. Now, with the trashbooms in place, the system works like a conveyor belt, arresting floating waste in a large quantum. We deploy cranes to extract the accumulated waste from the drains daily, preventing the solid waste from entering the sea.”
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Buoyed by the positive results in western suburbs, the BMC – later that year – installed two trash booms at Mithi River, near the BKC bridge and near the Maharashtra nature park.
By 2025, the BMC further expanded its network by operationalising five trash booms in eastern suburbs in August 2025 and three more by November 2025 at Vashi Nalla, Mankhurd Nalla and Somaiya Nalla.
According to officials, each trash boom costs nearly Rs. 1.5 crore for installation while additionally costing Rs. 40 lakh for transportation and Rs 50 lakh for operation and maintenance. The installation, officials and experts said, is undertaken after extensive studies of high tide and low tide patterns with each trash boom designed to cater to the drain’s hydrology.
In a bid to enhance its reach, the civic body has also joined hands with private organisations who have been tasked with installation as well as operation and maintenance. Of the four trash booms installed through CSR funding, one is installed at Usha Nalla, another at Deonar drain, one in Mithi river and the latest one at Mahul drain through the Bharat Clean River Foundation.
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Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior official from the BMC said that each trash boom traps at least 1.5 tonnes of solid, floating waste each day. “Collectively, these trash booms prevent thousands of metric tonnes of waste from entering the sea or even entering the protected mangrove zones,” a senior BMC official said.
In what seeks to give the waste a second lease of life, the BCRF is also eyeing to recycle the floating waste. “After we extract the waste following a certain interval of time, we will reach out to our partners and assess the waste. If recyclable, we will be sending them to recycling facilities. Next, our team will track the waste it intercepts, refine the design and also use the data to expand across Mumbai’s water network. Each tonne captured upstream is one less tonne fouling the coastline, threatening the fisherfold’s livelihoods,” said Jitendra Rami, co-founder and director of BCRF.
What next on BMC cards
In the next phase of trash boom installation, the BMC has awarded contracts to private bodies like The Ocean Cleanup and Alpha Mers to deploy the systems across nine locations. The Ocean Cleanup, for instance, is tasked with installing trash booms at Malad and Trombay creeks.
Additionally, officials privy to the development said that feasibility studies are also underway to install additional trash booms across 11 new locations ranging from Rajendra Nagar nalla to Kala Nagar drain. “Meanwhile, we have also started installing nets along slum pockets to prevent the waste at source itself,” added a BMC officer.
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“Water systems built our civilization; reviving them will safeguard our future. Cleaner waterways mean stronger fishing communities, fewer flooded streets each monsoon, and water and food free of microplastics,” Shailesh Haribhakti, Chairman of BCRF said.
Solid waste is often dumped directly into the minor and major drains as well as natural water bodies like Mithi river flowing through Mumbai. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
According to officials, each trash boom costs nearly Rs. 1.5 crore for installation while additionally costing Rs. 40 lakh for transportation and Rs 50 lakh for operation and maintenance. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)