June 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
During the spring season of 2023, expeditions to Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, have generated a total of 84 tons of waste and garbage, as denounced by the Nepalese NGO Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, in charge of managing the rubbish from climbers.
Of the total, 75 tons correspond only to those registered in the Everest base camp, among which there are 21.4 tons of incinerable garbage, 7.5 tons of non-incinerable garbage, 21.5 tons of human waste, 9.9 tons of kitchen waste.
To this figure must be added the 8.9 tons delivered by the expeditions -4.5 incinerable tons and 4.4 non-incinerable) coming from the camps that are located at a higher altitude in compliance with the law that obliges climbers to bring back at least 8 kilograms of garbage per person.
“Our team has already transferred all incinerable and non-incinerable garbage to our waste management facility in Namche for processing. All recyclable garbage will be transferred to Kathmandu,” the group said in a statement.
The NGO Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee was created in the late 1980s in response to the increasing volume of waste generated by tourists and climbers on Mount Everest. The group was created with the support of WWF Nepal and the Ministry of Tourism.