Officials scrap failed plan to reduce trash on Mount Everest
A tourist can expect to pay anywhere from $60,000 to $100,000+ CAD to climb Everest.
Nepal has announced it is scrapping a program that encourages climbers to retrieve garbage from Mount Everest, calling it a “failure." In its place, officials have proposed a revised initiative that is pending parliament approval, the BBC reports.
The original plan, which was in effect for 11 years, required climbers to pay a deposit of approximately $5,500 CAD that would only be returned if they brought back 8 kg of waste from the mountain.
It was hoped this would help reduce the trash problem on Everest, which is drowning in microplastics and covered in an estimated 50 tonnes of garbage.
The problem is becoming so pronounced that officials began limiting the number of tourists allowed on the Chinese side of the mountain in 2019.
The BBC reports the 11-year initiative to remove trash has “failed to show a tangible result,” with waste continuing to accumulate.
Officials told the news outlet that most of the deposit money has been refunded, signifying that the majority of climbers are bringing back garbage. The problem is that most of the returned trash is from the lower parts of the mountain and not the higher altitudes, where waste is the most prevalent.
"From higher camps, people tend to bring back oxygen bottles only," Tshering Sherpa, chief executive officer of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which oversees an Everest checkpoint, told the BBC.
"Other things like tents and cans and boxes of packed foods and drinks are mostly left behind there, that is why we can see so much of waste piling up."
He told the BBC the average climber spends up to 6 weeks on the mountain and produces about 12 kg of waste during their stay, meaning even if all climbers returned 8 kg, they would still bring back less trash than they produced. Mr. Sherpa said another problem is there has been a lack of monitoring around the cleanup initiative.
Officials announce a new initiative
In the future, climbers may be charged a non-refundable clean-up fee, estimated to be around $5,500 CAD, that will be used to establish a new checkpoint at Camp Two. A pair of mountain rangers will survey the higher altitudes to ensure climbers are grabbing trash from the tallest parts of the mountain. The fee will also be used to fund a five-year clean-up plan.
The new rule will only come into effect if approved by parliament.
It’s a change that Nepal’s sherpa community has been calling for for years, the BBC reports.
A heavily-visited summit
An estimated 700 to 1,000 people attempt to climb Mount Everest each year, at an average cost of around $60,000 to $100,000+ CAD per person.
People have been climbing Mount Everest since 1921, but the number of tourists has been increasing in recent years.
In 2013, for example, the total number of times the summit of Everest was reached was 6,871, a feat accomplished by 4,042 people. By December 2024, the summit had been reached 12,884 times by 7,269 climbers.
Header image:Trash at Everest's Nepal base camp circa 2012. (Robert Kern/Wikipedia) CC BY-SA 3.0