Dubbed the "roof of the world" with a height of 8,848 m, Mount Everest in the Himalayas, located between the border of Nepal and Tibet, attracts hundreds of climbers every year since the first person successfully conquered the peak 60 years ago.
However, this also causes frequent overloads, which in turn has consequences for the environment. Tons of rubbish, including empty cans, plastic bottles, climbing equipment, etc., are discarded on the top of Mount Everest, turning it into the "highest landfill in the world". Water sources downstream are also polluted by everything from human excrement to empty bottles and gas cylinders.
After facing heavy criticism over the current state of Mount Everest - one of the country's greatest natural resources - the Nepalese government and mountaineering organizers have teamed up to launch a six-week clean-up project.
A group of 14 people collected more than 10 tons of trash along the nearly 8,000-meter route from base camp to the next station near the summit. The trash was taken to recycling centers in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu. Workers sorted the waste, each type of recycling: iron was sent to an iron factory, aluminum cans were sent to a tool factory, and bottles were recycled into household items.
Pollution control NGO Sagarmatha, along with BW2V and others, recently launched a campaign to transport waste to recycling centers, and also send guides to the Everest region every year. People are asked to bring 1 kg of waste to Lukla, the gateway to the Everest region, or the capital Kathmandu for recycling.
These recycled items are now very popular in high-end hotels, restaurants and households in the capital. More and more customers are interested in goods made from scrap collected at Mount Everest.
The director of the five-star Hotel Yak & Yeti in Kathmandu said the choice of recycled items is the company's next step towards sustainable and eco-friendly products. "This is not only good for us and the environment, but also encourages people to try to minimize waste and make this Earth a better place."
In addition, a new waste treatment facility, Sagarmatha Next, is being built at Syangboche at 3,800m. It will process waste and will involve artists and inventors in creating new products to tap into the growing market for recycled goods from Everest waste.
Sagarmatha Next waste treatment facility under construction
However, climbers also warn that the cleanup has only collected a fraction of the trash on Everest, with many higher and more inaccessible places still left with untreated waste. Under the impact of global warming, many glaciers have melted, exposing old garbage dumps. Not only the trash but also the bodies of unfortunate climbers make "cleaning" Everest difficult. This year, 11 climbers have died. Not all the bodies have been found and brought down the mountain, so many bodies are still lying on the mountainside.
The growing number of people wanting to climb Mount Everest has led to more pollution. In 2019, the Nepalese government faced criticism when a record 381 permits were granted to climb the mountain.
In 2013, Nepal offered $4,000 to each climbing team if they brought down at least 8kg of waste, but only half of the teams that reached the summit kept their commitment. In August, representatives of municipalities in the Everest region announced that they would ban some single-use plastics and plastic bottles by early 2020.
