NEPAL COLLECTED 3000 KG WASTE FROM EVEREST
GS 3: Environment |Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation
Why in News?
Nepal has collected about 3,000 kilograms of solid waste from Mt. Everest since when Nepal launched an ambitious Everest Cleaning Campaign.
Highlights:
- The 45-day Everest Cleaning Campaign was launched on April 14, on Nepali New Year, and seeks to clean up ‘world’s highest garbage dump.’
- About 2,000 kg of garbage had been sent to Okhaldhunga while the remaining 1,000 kg were brought to Kathmandu using Nepali Army helicopters for disposal.
- Items left behind by climbers and Sherpas include discarded fluorescent lights, climbing and camping equipment, empty gas canisters, food packaging, beer bottles, and a huge amount of human excrement.
Everest Cleaning Campaign:
- Every year, hundreds of climbers, Sherpas and high altitude porters make their way to Everest, leaving behind tonnes of both biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste.
- The campaign will conclude on May 29, the day marked every year to commemorate the first summit of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953
- The collected waste will then be “showcased” in Namche town, before being ferried down to Kathmandu, where it will once again be showcased on World Environment Day on June 5.
- Under this campaign Nepal is trying to collect around 5,000-kg of garbage from Base Camp area, while 2,000-kg of garbage will be collected from the South Col region and around 3,000-kg will be collected from Camp II and Camp III area.
- There have been attempts in the past to clean up Everest, including a 2014 government-mandated provision making it mandatory for every climber to come down the peak with at least 8 kilogramme of garbage the amount of trash estimated to be produced by one climber.