Thursday 25th April 2024
Nepal has achieved a new Guinness World Record of ‘The Largest Clean-up of Mount Everest’ for successfully conducting a cleaning campaign on the world’s highest mountain.
For the first time in the history of Everest climbing, Nepal conducted the mega Everest Clean-up Drive for over a month in the last spring season.
In coordination with the government and private agencies, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation conducted the cleaning campaign on the mountain from April 14 – May 29, 2019.
Twelve trained Sherpa climbers, including ice-fall doctors, collected approximately 10,386 kg of garbage from the mountain.
Of the total trash collected, 5,049 kg were recycled (including glass, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans), but the remaining non-recyclable material had to be incinerated or sent to landfill.
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Around 5,700 kg of the total litter was collected from base camp, high camps, old Khumbu Icefall route, and other settlements of the mountain.
“The largest clean-up of Mt. Everest saw 10,386 kg of garbage collection from the mountain by 12 Sherpas between 14 April to 29 May 2019,” read the GWR certificate.
“The most common types of litter retrieved were wrappers, thermo-insulation linings and broken glass,” informed Meera Acharya, Spokesperson at the Department of Tourism (DoT).
According to DoT, the Nepali Government spent NPR 27 million for the cleaning program.
Apart from the garbage, the Sherpas also retrieved four bodies of climbers who had died while climbing Mt. Everest.
[Also Read Bahrain Army to Climb ‘Mt Everest’ in 2021]
The Ministry of Forests and Environment, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, the Nepali Army, the Nepal Mountaineering Association and the Nepal Tourism Board are some agencies that assisted the cleaning campaign.
