The world’s highest mountain has also become the highest dump yard in the world as more than 10,000 kilograms of waste including four human bodies and human excrement, used oxygen bottles, cracked tents, ropes, broken ladders, cans and plastic wrappers left behind by climbers.
A clean-up team of 20 people backed by the Nepalese government and charities collected five tonnes of waste in the month of April and May from different camps sites above the base camp and another six tonnes from the areas below, said Dandu Raj Ghimire, DG of the Department of Tourism.
New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay conquered the tallest mountain in the world in 1953 since then around 5,000 people have since reached the summit.
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Nepal this year issued 381 permits to Everest, costing $11,000 each and this raises concern on how the government is tackling the Trash Dumping problem in the Everest which is a large-scale tourist attraction in the country.
Earlier this year, China blocked non-climbers from visiting the base camp on its side of the Everest, saying tourists visiting the site at around 17,000 feet were leaving too much waste.
The tourism is also impacting the environment in various ways which were earlier displayed in the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Conservation Report.
