Mount Everest will soon have dustbins, thanks to a clean-up drive launched by the Nepal government and the organisers of expeditions. Expedition Operators’ Association of Nepal President Dambar Parajuli told The Guardian on Wednesday that climbers and porters have already put 10 bags, each with a capacity of 80 kg, at the base camp. These will be placed at different heights once the climbing season starts in April.
Once the trash bins are full, helicopters will be used to fly them down from the base camp at 21,000 ft. To keep the drive pocket-friendly, the organisers have decided to use the choppers that usually return empty after dropping climbing ropes to the base camp. “This way we hope to bring down the trash without any extra cost,” Durga Dutta Dhakal, an official at the Nepal tourism department, told Reuters. Climbers will be asked to pick up rubbish along their route while sherpas will get an extra $2 (Rs 130 approximately) per kg for carrying down bags of trash from a higher elevation to the base camp, reported AP.
Mount Everest was left littered with waste after it was hit by an avalanche in 2014. The natural disaster had killed 16 Nepalese guides. The next year, an earthquake-triggered avalanche near the south base camp killed 19 climbers. Guide Russell Brice said that the clean-up drive was started to remove the tents and supplies left by the rescued climbers.
The drive comes before the start of the climbing season. Organisers are expecting a surge of climbers this year, as many mountaineers – whose $11,000 permits were extended for two years after the earthquake – are likely to make a return. Last year, over 600 people scaled Mount Everest from the Nepal and China sides.
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