In 2000, Japanese climber Ken Noguchi launched what is widely regarded as the first organised clean-up campaign on Mount Everest, the 8,848.86-metre peak long celebrated as the ultimate symbol of human endurance. What he encountered instead was a mountain choked with trash.

“Before going, I always saw images of beautiful Everest on TV. I thought it would be like that,” Noguchi later said in an interview. “But once I got there, I found litter everywhere.”

Shocked by the scale of pollution, Noguchi organised fellow climbers to remove waste after completing his ascent. His team cleared nearly nine tonnes of garbage, including more than 400 discarded oxygen cylinders. Between 2000 and 2007, he helped collect around 90 tonnes of waste from Everest.

A quarter-century later, the mountain’s garbage problem has only deepened.

Though periodic clean-up campaigns have been conducted over the years, the government has, for the first time, unveiled a comprehensive five-year Everest Cleaning Action Plan (2025–2029), amid growing criticism that the world’s tallest peak is turning into a dumping ground.

A portion of public funds had already been allocated in recent years for Everest clean-up campaigns led by the Nepali Army. While the Army-led operations succeeded in removing large volumes of waste from the mountain, officials familiar with the process say the campaigns courted controversy over financial transparency and accountability.

Questions were raised within the government about expenditure details, procurement practices and the absence of a long-term waste management framework. These concerns, sources say, became one of the key factors prompting the government to formally introduce a comprehensive, policy-backed Everest cleaning action plan, rather than relying solely on periodic clean-up drives.

Experts say the sheer volume of waste recovered each climbing season underlines the urgent need for sustainable mountaineering practices. Climate change has compounded the crisis: melting snow and ice are exposing garbage long buried under glaciers, as well as human remains, increasing contamination risks for watersheds and posing health threats to downstream communities.

For decades, tonnes of waste left behind by climbers, Sherpas, guides and porters—oxygen canisters, plastic bottles, ropes, food waste and human excreta—have scarred the Everest region, polluting high-altitude slopes and settlements below.

Plastic, in particular, has emerged as a persistent menace. A single plastic bag can take up to 500 years to break down naturally. Burned, it releases toxic fumes; buried, it contaminates soil. As climbing traffic has surged, plastic waste has steadily crept higher up the mountain, turning Everest into a stark symbol of environmental neglect.

The newly unveiled action plan, released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Sunday, also proposes a feasibility study to relocate Everest Base Camp amid mounting environmental concerns.

The base camp, located at 5,364 metres, stretches more than a kilometre along the Khumbu Glacier. It sits on a shifting, melting river of ice and boulders. Ringed by towering seracs (massive blocks of ice), the area becomes particularly unstable in summer, when meltwater flows down the glacier.

During the spring climbing season, the base camp transforms into a dense tent city housing hundreds of climbers and support staff, equipped with stoves, heaters and generators, further increasing environmental stress.

“The government has decided to study whether relocating the base camp is feasible for the sustainability of the mountain,” said Himal Gautam, director at the Department of Tourism. “The base camp is overcrowded and fragile. The study will provide a perspective on an alternative site.”

The action plan follows a Supreme Court order issued last year, as Everest—often dubbed the world’s highest garbage dump—struggles under decades of accumulated waste.

“Among several mandates, the court has ordered the government to limit climbing permits by assessing the mountain’s carrying capacity and available services,” Gautam said. “Permits should be issued only after specifying the number of climbers.”

Under the action plan, rope-fixing teams operating above base camp must report their annual use of ladders and nylon ropes. According to the Nepal Mountain Academy, around 400 kg of such materials are left behind every year. Often buried in snow, these ropes can remain on the mountain for decades.

The action plan also requires banners and prayer flags used above base camp to be biodegradable and standardised. Expedition teams will be mandated to bring back all fixed ropes and ladders in quantities matching what they installed. Detailed equipment lists must be logged at entry points and verified again upon exit to ensure accountability.

Expedition agencies and mountaineers will be required to prepare inventories of goods at the start of their climb and reconcile them upon return.

A temporary garbage collection point will be established at Camp II, located at 6,750 metres just above the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.

Often used as a training ground or rest stop, Camp II will serve as a checkpoint to ensure that waste is not dumped at higher altitudes. Climbers will be required to bring back a fixed quantity of old garbage from above Camp II and deposit it at the collection point.

The Department of Tourism will also launch awareness campaigns during mandatory pre-expedition briefings. Climbers and expedition agencies must submit written commitments on waste management to their assigned liaison officers.

The plan further calls for new legislation to define Everest’s carrying capacity and regulate climbing timelines, taking into account narrow weather windows and worsening congestion.

Since 2014, Nepal has required every climber ascending above base camp to bring back at least eight kilograms of solid waste or forfeit a $4,000 deposit. The new action plan proposes turning this deposit into a non-refundable fee to establish a permanent mountain welfare fund dedicated to conservation and clean-up.

It also envisions building garbage collection and processing facilities at feasible locations, either at base camp or nearby.

While the government has not officially assessed the total investment required, a draft of the plan obtained by the Post proposes a Rs308 million budget for clean-up efforts. Officials familiar with the proposal say the actual cost could exceed Rs1 billion.

The plan also proposes forming a team of “Mountain Rangers,” made up of trained climbers, to monitor waste management at base camp and higher camps. It further suggests exploring the use of drones to collect waste from areas above base camp.

“The action plan has come into force, and necessary laws will be enacted accordingly,” Gautam said.

The policy shift comes as images of traffic jams near the summit ridge and reports of growing trash piles draw international scrutiny.

According to the Himalayan Database, the authoritative climbing archive established by the late Elizabeth Hawley, more than 200 people died on Everest’s Nepal side between 1953—when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa first summited—and 2022.

Waste collection figures highlight the scale of the crisis. The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee reported clearing 85 tonnes of garbage during the 2024 spring season alone, including nearly 28 tonnes of human waste. The Nepali Army removed an additional 11 tonnes.

To ease pressure on the mountain, Nepal has sharply raised climbing fees. Under revised regulations effective from September 1, 2025, the spring-season royalty for foreign climbers using the south route has increased from $11,000 to $15,000 per person. A portion of the revenue will be earmarked for clean-up efforts, with provisions to involve local communities.

The government also plans to integrate environmental awareness into local school curricula and introduce educational materials nationwide.

Some measures are already in place. Poop bags have been made compulsory above base camp, and since 2024, climbers have been required to use them under initiatives led by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee and Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality.

Whether the ambitious five-year plan can finally restore Everest’s fragile ecosystem remains uncertain. But for the first time, Nepal has laid out a structured roadmap to confront the environmental cost of conquering the world’s highest peak.