BMC to install 14 more trash booms to stop garbage from flowing into Arabian Sea, Thane Creek

Mumbai: In a continued effort to curb garbage from Mumbai’s stormwater drains entering the Arabian Sea and Thane Creek, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to install 14 new trash booms across key nullahs in the city.

These steel-net barriers, which trap floating waste and transfer it to bins or collection vans using a conveyor belt system, are being deployed in two phases. The first tranche, covering nullahs in the eastern suburbs, will be installed within a month — ahead of the monsoon. The remaining six, intended for nullahs in the western suburbs, are currently in the tendering stage and are expected to be operational by October. Each unit costs approximately ₹1 crore.

Once in place, the new installations will expand Mumbai’s trash boom network to 23. The existing nine units, which were introduced three years ago, have shown promising results in capturing floating waste before it can pollute the city’s fragile marine ecosystems.

“This trash boom system has proven effective in several parts of the city, which is why we’re expanding it,” said an official from the BMC’s Storm Water Drain (SWD) department. “Each boom is anchored to the nullah’s boundary walls and has a submerged net extending two feet below the waterline, with floating borders to trap waste regardless of tidal conditions.”

The collected waste is removed daily by contractors using the built-in conveyor system. During the dry season, each trash boom collects about 1.5 metric tonnes of garbage per day. This volume swells to 2.5–3 metric tonnes during the monsoon, when waste disposal into nullahs tends to increase, particularly from informal settlements.

Among the current installations, the trash boom at the ML Complex nullah in Dahisar records the highest volume of waste, followed by the one at Gazdhar Bandh in Santacruz West.

Last month, an additional trash boom was installed at Usha Nagar in Bhandup by the NGO Plastic Fischer, further strengthening the city’s waste interception efforts.

Beyond these installations, the SWD department is also placing protective nets along nullah walls near slum areas to deter direct garbage dumping. The civic body is simultaneously ramping up public awareness campaigns to promote responsible waste disposal.