Nepal to scrap ‘failed’ Everest waste storage plan

A plan to encourage climbers to bring rubbish off Mount Everest is being scrapped – with Nepalese authorities telling the BBC it has failed.

Climbers are asked to pay a $4,000 (£2964) deposit, which can only be recovered if they bring back at least 8kg (18lb) of rubbish.

It is hoped it will begin to tackle the litter problem on the world’s highest peak, which is estimated to cover an area of About 50 tons of waste.

But 11 years later, with rubbish still piling up, the plan was shelved because it “failed to show tangible results”.

Himal Gautam, director of the Department of Tourism, told the BBC that not only was the litter problem “not going away”, but the deposit scheme itself “had become an administrative burden”.

Tourism and mountaineering officials told the BBC that most deposits have been refunded over the years – which should mean that most climbers bring back rubbish.

But the plan is said to have failed because the trash brought back by climbers often comes from lower camps rather than higher camps where the trash problem is greatest.

“From higher camps, people tend to bring back only oxygen bottles,” said Tshering Sherpa, chief executive of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which manages the Everest checkpoint.

“Other items such as tents, cans and packaged food and drink are mostly left there, which is why we can see so much rubbish piling up.”

Mr Sherpa said the average climber produces up to 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of waste on the mountain and takes up to six weeks to acclimate and climb.

In addition to “flawed rules” that require climbers to take back less rubbish than they generate, Everest regional authorities say a lack of monitoring is a major challenge.

“There is no monitoring of climbers’ activities except for checkpoints above the Khumbu glacier,” Mr Sherpa said.

Nepalese authorities hope the new plan will be more effective.

Officials said that under the revised rules, non-refundable cleanup fees collected by climbers will be used to set up checkpoints at Camp 2 and deploy rangers who will continue to travel higher on the mountain to ensure climbers take away their trash.

Tourism ministry officials said the prize money for each climber is likely to be $4,000 – the same as the deposit – and will come into effect after being passed by parliament.

Mingma Sherpa, chairman of Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, said the Sherpa community had been lobbying for the change for years.

“We have been questioning the effectiveness of the deposit scheme because we are not aware of anyone being punished for not taking their rubbish out.

“There was no designated fund, but now this non-refundable fee will result in the creation of a fund that will allow us to do all of this cleanup and monitoring work.”

The non-refundable fee will form part of the recently launched five-year mountain clean-up action plan, which Tourism Ministry spokesman Jaynarayan Acarya said aims to “immediately address the urgent litter problem in our mountains”.

Although there have been no studies quantifying waste on Everest, it is estimated that there is a large amount of waste, including human waste, which does not rot higher on the mountain due to freezing temperatures.

The number of climbers continues to increase each year, with an average of about 400, and the number of support staff continues to increase, which has become a growing concern for the sustainable development of mountaineering.