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.
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