Photo taken on March 10, 1993 shows garbage, gas cylinders, ropes, tents, cans and plastics on Mount EVerest, nicknamed "the world's tallest garbage bin" because of tons of waste left by mountaineers. (Photo by Pierr...Photo taken on March 10, 1993 shows garbage, gas cylinders, ropes, tents, cans and plastics on Mount EVerest, nicknamed "the world's tallest garbage bin" because of tons of waste left by mountaineers. (Photo by Pierre ROYER / AFP) (Photo by PIERRE ROYER/AFP via Getty Images)MORE LESS
Mount Everest is known for many things: It’s the world’s highest mountain, an often-deadly climb, the experience of a lifetime, and… the world’s highest garbage dump. The waste situation at the mountain has reached a critical point as more and more high-priced climbing groups flock there, exhibiting, in many cases, little regard for their impact on the delicate and extreme environment. For over a decade, the Nepalese government has coordinated high-risk expeditions to help clean up waste on Mount Everest, but there seems to be a never-ending quantity of discarded cans, bottles, oxygen tanks, tents, ropes, human waste, and even dead bodies. A 2019 cleanup attempt removed 24,000 pounds of trash from the base camps.
This has led to a new mandate set by the local government, the Pasanglhamu rural municipality. Climbers will have to purchase “poo-bags” to carry their own waste, and those bags will be checked upon their return. Although this only addresses part of the problem on the mountain, it focuses on the more hazardous types of waste found around base camps.
Discarded climbing equipment scattered around Camp 4 of Mount Everest
This picture taken on May 21, 2018 shows discarded climbing equipment and rubbish scattered around Camp 4 of Mount Everest. Decades of commercial mountaineering have turned Mount Everest into the world’s highest rubbish dump as an increasing number of big-spending climbers pay little attention to the ugly footprint they leave behind. (Photo credit: DOMA SHERPA/AFP via Getty Images)
A Nepalese sherpa collecting garbage left by climbers
This picture taken on May 23, 2010 shows a Nepalese sherpa collecting garbage, left by climbers, at an altitude of roughly 26,000 feet during an Everest clean-up expedition. A group of 20 Nepalese climbers, including some top summiteers, collected about 4,000 pounds of garbage in a high-risk expedition to clean up the world’s highest peak. Led by seven-time summiteer Namgyal Sherpa, the team braved thin air and below-freezing temperatures to clear the rubbish left behind by mountaineers, including corpses. Since 1953, there have been some 300 deaths on Everest. Many bodies have been brought down, but those above 26,000 feet have generally been left to the elements — their bodies preserved by the freezing temperatures. (Photo credit: NAMGYAL SHERPA/AFP via Getty Images)
Workers from a recycling company load garbage collected from Mount Everest
Workers from a recycling company, Blue Waste 2 Value, load the garbage collected from Mount Everest in Kathmandu, Nepal in June 2019. Clean-up Campaign 2019 on Mount Everest removed 24,000 pounds of rubbish and four dead bodies. (Photo by Narayan Maharjan/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Close up of waste collected from Mount Everest
Staff and workers from a recycling company show some of what was collected on Mount Everest in 2019. (Photo by Narayan Maharjan/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Full sacks of garbage collected from Mount Everest
Full sacks of waste collected from Mount Everest in June 2019. (Photo by Narayan Maharjan/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Workers from a recycling company show collected garbage to the media
Workers show waste collected from Mount Everest in 2019. (Photo by Narayan Maharjan/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Workers load bags of garbage collected from Mount Everest
Workers loading up the waste collected from Mount Everest in 2019. (Photo by Narayan Maharjan/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Nepali Army personnel throw bags of waste collected from Mount Everest
Nepali Army personnel throw bags of waste collected from the Mount Everest at Namche Bazar, on May 27, 2019, before it is transported to Kathmandu to be recycled. The Nepalese government sent a dedicated clean-up team to Mount Everest in spring 2019 with a goal of bringing back 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of trash in an ambitious plan to clean the world’s highest rubbish dump. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images)
Nepali climbers pose with the waste they collected at Mount Everest
Nepali climbers pose for photographs after collecting waste from the Mount Everest at Namche Bazar, on May 27, 2019. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images)
Nepalese sherpa packing up garbage collected during a clean-up expedition
This picture taken on May 26, 2010 shows a Nepalese sherpa packing garbage collected from the Everest clean-up expedition at Everest Base Camp. (Photo by NAMGYAL SHERPA/AFP via Getty Images)
Nepalese climbers posing with garbage collected during a clean-up expedition
This picture taken on May 28, 2010 shows Nepalese sherpa climbers posing after collecting garbage from the Everest clean-up expedition at Everest Base Camp. (Photo by NAMGYAL SHERPA/AFP via Getty Images)
Climbers collect garbage ahead of the 60th anniversary of humans summiting Mount Everest
Climbers collect garbage prior to a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of human beings reaching the summit of Mount Qomolangma, or Mount Everest, via the north ridge at the Mount Qomolangma base camp on May 11, 2020 in Tibet Autonomous Region, China. (Photo by He Penglei/China News Service via Getty Images)
Climbers collecting garbage at Mount Everest
Climbers collect garbage in May 2020. (Photo by He Penglei/China News Service via Getty Images)
Garbage left by mountaineers at Mount Everest in 1993
A photo taken on March 10, 1993 shows garbage, gas cylinders, ropes, tents, cans and plastics on Mount Everest. (Photo by PIERRE ROYER/AFP via Getty Images)
Christine Frapech
is TPM's designer and event planner based in New York.
