Climbers of Mount Everest will soon be required to collect 8kg of rubbish on their descent of the mountain, following new rules released by the Nepalese Government.
All mountaineers and support staff climbing beyond Everest Base Camp will be affected when the new guidelines come into force next month, a change that will coincide with the start of this year’s climbing season. Those failing to collect enough rubbish, excluding oxygen cylinders and human waste, face losing a substantial deposit on their return.
The decision follows increasing concern over the amount of waste deposited on the mountain, with Everest’s higher regions being the worst affected. Many clean up operations have been launched in the past, with a team of Nepalese Sherpa journeying to the mountain’s highest reaches in 2010 to retrieve waste in addition to the bodies of two climbers who perished on the mountain.