Every year, the city of Mumbai, India, witnesses a recurring and grim spectacle: as monsoon season rolls in, the ocean spits out countless tons of waste—garbage carelessly discarded by people and swept into its depths.

Massive piles of plastic smother the shores, almost as if the sea is returning humanity’s thoughtless offerings back to them. Municipal workers deploy bulldozers, trucks, and numerous cleanup crews, braving relentless rain to gather the mountains of trash and haul it away to landfills.

This season, the tides delivered a staggering 427 tons of garbage onto the coastline. For a city of nearly 19 million residents, such a number might be expected, but it is no less horrifying.

A simple plea: never throw trash into the water, and never leave it behind on the shore. Big or small, no litter belongs in nature. Let’s break this vicious cycle.