$4,000 deposits aren’t enough: Everest tries to get rid of tons of trash and excrement with a new cleaning plan, stricter controls and dedicated Sherpa teams.
First of all, we tried to force mountaineers to take their waste back to the valley by introducing economic sanctions. Since 2014, in fact, Nepal has imposed a deposit of around 4,000 dollars, returned only to those who come down with at least eight kilograms of rubbish, i.e. the average quantity produced during an expedition.
Similar measures also exist on the Tibetan side and have made it possible to recover tons of oxygen cylinders, tents and packaging accumulated over decades.
The mountain like a landfill
The problem, however, remains: some prefer to lose the deposit, others collect waste in the lower fields instead of bringing their own waste, left higher up, back to the valley. For this reason, a multi-year plan has been launched which aims to establish a permanent fund for cleaning, with stricter controls and teams of Sherpas dedicated to collection.
Furthermore, special bags for collecting human excrement have been introduced. All countermeasures to avoid Everest’s current nickname of “the highest landfill in the world”.
