Tonnes of garbage thrown back by the sea onto the beaches

Tonnes of garbage is thrown back by the sea during high tide

Municipal staff cleaning a beach in Mumbai after high tide

MUMBAI: Friday’s high tide washed ashore an eye-popping 9 metric tonnes of trash along the Marine Drive promenade. This is nine times the garbage collected from the promenade every day, said a BMC official.Civic officials said the trash quantity was unprecedented as garbage overflowed onto the adjoining road and one lane had to be shut for traffic. “The washing up of garbage started an hour before the tide reached its peak height of 4.85m at 12.13pm. Later, when the water began to recede, the garbage stayed back,” said an official.Experts said waste that may be floating in the middle of the sea washes ashore on beaches because of intense wave action. “The bigger the waves, the heavier the items they can carry. So big waves can carry all sorts of garbage, from glass and plastic bottles to pieces of stones and bricks to tetrapacks, and dump it on the shores,” said an expert.But it’s not necessary that the garbage that washed ashore at Marine Drive was generated by Mumbai alone. Professor Kapil Gupta from IIT-B’s department of civil engineering said that wave dynamics is quite complex. “The garbage could have originated at some place far away or some ship may have discharged it into the sea,” he said. The city generates over 7,000 metric tonnes of garbage daily.BMC officials said that over two dozen labourers, a big compactor vehicle and two mini dumpers were deployed to clear the mess. Assistant municipal commissioner Kiran Dighavkar said, “On past high tide days, about one metric tonne or even lesser garbage washed ashore. On Friday, the quantum was a lot,” he said.Atul Kumar from Nariman Point Churchgate Citizens Welfare Trust said that earlier, high-tide days were occasions to visit the promenade. “It was relief after summer. But over the past two years, the sea has been throwing up garbage. On Friday, even the drains in the area got clogged due to the huge quantum of garbage,” he said.