Volunteers have removed more than 3 tons of trash from Mount Everest in just two weeks, part of an ambitious project by the Nepalese government to clean up decades of garbage left by hikers and tourists that has recently been exposed by melting snow and ice, Agence France-Presse reported.
Volunteers have removed more than 3 tons of trash from Mount Everest in just two weeks, part of an ambitious project by the Nepalese government to clean up decades of garbage left by hikers and tourists that has recently been exposed by melting snow and ice, Agence France-Presse reported.
Among the rubbish were tents, climbing equipment, bottles, cans, empty oxygen canisters, and human waste, according to the news agency. Helicopters carried one-third of the garbage to Kathmandu for recycling. The remaining trash was taken to the district of Okhaldhunga for disposal in landfills. The volunteers started their work at Nepal’s Everest busy base camp and are now moving to sites higher up the 29,029-foot mountain, Dandu Raj Ghimire, chief of Nepal’s tourism ministry, told AFP.
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Image: Climbers collect garbage near a base camp on Mount Everest. AWANG ZHAXI/XINHUA VIA AP
