- Everest faces severe waste issue
- SPCC efforts partially successful
- Camp Four most polluted
Climbing Mount Everest, which stands at an astounding height of 8,848 metres (29,029 feet), is among the most formidable quests on the planet.
However, climbers are now posing an even greater obstacle for those tasked with cleaning up after them, as Mount Everest is on the verge of becoming the highest waste dump in the world.
There may be as much as 50 tonnes of trash remaining on the mountain, according to experts, whereas Everest Base Camp generates 75 tonnes of waste per season.
At this point, climbers will be required to transport their own faeces back down the mountain due to the severe waste situation.
This shocking map illustrates the actual quantity of refuse present on Mount Everest, providing greater insight into the magnitude of the problem.
Mount Everest is situated in the Khumbu region of Nepal, within Sagarmatha National Park.
Approximately 200 Sherpa villages dot this 124,400-hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site, which also encompasses some of the tallest mountains in the world.
Long-term growth in the number of visitors to the park has been accompanied by a recent exponential increase, with the number doubling in the three years between 2014 and 2017.
Although the park has a permanent population of merely 7,000, an estimated 60,000 foreign tourists and thousands of Nepalese guides visit annually.
However, despite contributing millions to the local economy and the Nepalese government, these visitors also generate enormous quantities of refuse.
An estimated 900 to 1,000 tonnes of solid refuse are introduced into the park annually, with the overwhelming majority of it remaining.
Efforts to Tackle Everest’s Waste
The issue escalated to the extent that the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) was established in 1991 in an effort to rein in the refuse levels.
Currently, waste collection from Everest Base Camp and the footpaths within the national park is overseen by the SPCC.
Beyond Base Camp, climbers have been required to return 18 pounds (8 kilogrammes) of trash since 2014, or risk losing their $4,000 (£2,600) deposit.
Mountain geologist Dr. Alton Byers of the University of Colorado Boulder has devoted decades to researching the refuse problem on Mount Everest.
According to him, the ascent to Everest Base Camp was formerly referred to as the “toilet paper trail” because of the excessive amount of litter and human refuse that was left behind.
Dr. Byers claims that the SPCC has virtually eradicated the refuse problem from the trails leading to base camp in the two decades since its inception.
Nonetheless, notwithstanding the SPCC’s diligent attempts, the matter still seems not to have been completely resolved.
Each year, distressing visuals depict settlements strewn with discarded equipment, deteriorating tents, and human remains.
Since the SPCC only maintains annual records of waste collection, no official estimates exist regarding the current quantity of waste atop the mountain.
Mount Everest’s Persistent Waste Problem
A paper published in 2020, however, estimated that 50 tonnes of solid refuse may have remained on Everest over the past six decades.
Furthermore, the Nepalese Army documented the removal of approximately 34 tonnes of refuse from Everest and the adjacent mountains in 2022, representing an increase from the 27.6 tonnes removed in 2021.
Efforts to sanitise Everest, nevertheless, merely enhance the conditions of the lower camps, where Sherpas can be commissioned to transport trash back to Base Camp.
Frédéric Kauffmann, CEO and founder of The NeverRest Project, told that Camp Four, the final halt for climbers before the summit, is the most polluted area of the mountain.
Mr. Kauffmann asserts that full refuse collection from this location is “virtually impossible.”
Mr. Kauffmann explains, “Camp 4 is situated at an approximate elevation of 7,900 metres, in the so-called death zone, where climbers spend only a few hours before proceeding to the summit.”
“They abandon their accessories while descending due to the life-threatening situation,” he continues. “They descend extremely quickly.”
Everest’s Alarming Sanitation Challenge
Tenzi Sherpa, a Sherpa guide who was ascending the mountain, recently uploaded a video of Camp Four in which he proclaimed it to be “the filthiest camp I’ve ever seen.”
Tenzi Sherpa wrote in his post, “Many tents, empty oxygen bottles, steel bowls, spoons, and sanitation pads are visible.”
The inescapable human refuse that climbers are compelled to leave on the mountain is an additional vital concern.
The SPCC provides lavatories at base camp, the primary location for climbers to reside, where waste is collected in containers and transported down the mountain by porters for disposal in pits.
Between the villages of Gorakshep and Lobuche is one of the largest pits, where an estimated 20,000 kilogrammes of human refuse are dumped annually.
This alone creates a potential contamination risk for the water supply; however, there is no such system above Everest Base Camp.
Although official data regarding the quantity of excrement present on the mountain is non-existent, the SPCC provides an approximation of one to three tonnes spanning from Camp One to Camp Four.
Extremely low temperatures (-60°C or -76°F) prevent complete decomposition of excrement, leaving human stools visible on boulders.
It is believed that half of that refuse is located at Camp Four, where the windswept terrain conceals the tonne of human excrement even with snow and ice.
Mount Everest’s Deepening Waste Crisis
Mr. Kaufmann estimates that an additional 240,000 litres of urine are deposited directly onto the Khumbu Glacier annually throughout the sixty days of peak season.
As a result of the spring melt, urine filters into rivers that nourish nearby villages, people, animals, and crops, where its bacterial content poses a health risk,” he explains.
Nonetheless, the refuse that remains on the mountain may not even constitute the most significant issue.
Dr. Byers states, “Since the Sherpas say there is only one Everest, the majority of the attention has been on garbage on Everest.”
“However, I have always held the opinion that the waste on Everest is merely superficial; it is simple to remove.”
The greater concern, according to him, is how to manage the hundreds of tonnes of refuse produced annually by the tourism industry, which caters to sixty thousand foreigners.
The SPCC gathered 75 tonnes of garbage from Everest Base Camp alone in spring 2023.
Approximately 21.5 tonnes of human waste, 12 tonnes of non-combustible refuse, and nine tonnes of kitchen waste were included.
