00:00 These bottle caps were collected from the slopes of Mount Everest.
00:08 And here at Saganmata Next, locals are turning this trash into art.
00:14 But it's just a fraction of the estimated 50 metric tons of waste that litter the slopes of the world's tallest mountain.
00:23 We followed the trash down from Everest's peak through its collection, sorting and transformation
00:30 to understand how locals are trying to control the Himalayas over 7.5 million dollar waste problem.
00:38 Local residents are acutely aware of the trash overwhelming their communities.
00:49 But before workers can recycle some of it, it must be collected from Everest's highest camps.
00:56 Waste efforts are carefully organised by the Saganmata Pollution Control Committee, or SPCC, a Shirpa-led non-governmental organisation.
01:08 Climbing guides carry down waste from higher camps and combine it with trash at base camp.
01:14 This includes plastic, food scraps and human waste.
01:19 (Music)
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01:35 (Music)
02:03 As of 2023, 2,306 expedition groups had attempted or summited the mountain.
02:10 And each group generates a lot of trash, an average of 8 kilograms per person.
02:17 At base camp, Suraj sorts the waste into burnable and non-burnable piles and bundles them for porters.
02:25 The porters then carry the trash on their backs or via yaks down the mountain to designated collection sites.
02:33 At landfills managed by the SPCC, workers like Gelash Rai sort and pack the trash.
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03:25 Some of the bags Gelash is packing are part of the Carry Me Back program, a crowdsourced waste transportation system.
03:33 The program is managed by Saganmata Next, an organization seeking to demonstrate alternative ways to process all this waste.
03:43 To remove it, that's a challenge because we don't have roads and transportation vehicles.
03:49 So we made something we called Carry Me Back. It's a small bag, weighs up to one kilo,
03:55 and we offer everyone who returns back from higher up, going back to the entry point Lukla,
04:02 to take one bag, one kilo, and carry it one day down.
04:06 Lukla is the site of Everest's airport and the gateway to the region.
04:13 From here, the sorted waste is flown back to Kathmandu, where it's processed further at recycling centers.
04:21 Saganmata Next first trialed Carry Me Back in 2019.
04:26 During five weeks, we had 2,500 participants, and they carried back 5,500 bags, so around five tons, in a test situation.
04:37 And that was very, very kind of encouraging.
04:40 In 2023, Carry Me Back scaled it up to eight metric tons.
04:46 But the organization's efforts don't stop there.
04:50 It also repurposes the trash it helps to collect.
04:54 One way it does this is through its partnership with Moeware.
04:59 Moeware sources recycled bottle caps collected from Everest and nearby mountains.
05:09 Upcycling waste into souvenirs like these.
05:12 The molds are inspired by the topography of the Himalayas.
05:19 Saganmata Next's Experience Center also hosts an Artist in Residence program,
05:28 where artists like Jo Rankine repurpose discarded trash.
05:33 The pieces that I've chosen come from a big waste pit that's below the Namche telepad.
05:38 So I've taken my backpack down and collected all the pieces that I want to work with, and I've brought them back up here to the lab.
05:45 And now I'm working on a sculpture, which I'm going to place onto this metal grid down here.
05:52 And this is a real challenge because the metal is so corroded, so every time I've tried to make a hole, it breaks a little bit.
06:04 While Saganmata Next was established to alleviate the waste problem on Everest and in the Khumbu region,
06:11 its founders bear no animosity toward the climbers responsible.
06:15 Well, I think we all have to try to understand as much as possible what it means to be up climbing on a mountain like Everest.
06:25 Most people going up on that mountain are actually struggling pretty hard, both to be safe and to be able to scale and go to the summit,
06:37 and then of course, most importantly, to be able to come back down safely.
06:42 The nature of it itself makes it almost impossible to have, let's say, 100% of all the waste that is up there to be brought down.
06:54 So hopefully we also get that message out in the world that there are many efforts to try to alleviate the problems.
07:02 The SPCC's waste management system is required for expedition agencies and locals alike, but it comes at a cost.
07:13 It mandates fees based on the amount of waste generated by each expedition.
07:19 The SPCC charges a minimum wage of 210 rupees per kg of waste.
07:24 Other waste is also reduced to a minimum, such as polling papers, glass containers, and even plastic bottles.
07:37 Climbers are also subject to fees and regulations imposed by the Nepalese government.
07:46 It requires climbers to pay a $4,000 deposit, which will only be returned if they bring down at least 8 kg of trash, not including oxygen tanks or human waste.
07:58 This regulation is meant to incentivise climbers to help clean the decades' worth of trash on the highest parts of the mountain.
08:06 The fine can be inconvenient for climbers and their guides, like Phurba Wangchu Sirpa, who struggle to meet the requirement.
08:16 We only eat plastic.
08:18 We can't even bring down 8 kg of rubbish.
08:24 If we can't bring down 8 kg of trash, we have to return the garbage we have collected.
08:35 That's why it's so difficult.
08:40 We have to bring down 16 kg of trash.
08:46 If we bring down the oxygen tanks, we can't bring down the rubbish.
08:54 We only have plastic bags and gas.
09:00 We have to bring down the trash.
09:07 While oxygen cylinders don't count towards the 8 kg of waste required per climber, they're too expensive to leave behind.
09:14 Each cylinder costs $600, and that price has incentivised climbers to return them instead of leaving them on the mountain.
09:23 When climbers use the cylinders, they feel like they're a piece of metal.
09:30 The first person to bring the cylinder down is the climber himself.
09:37 If something happens to the climber, his guide will bring him back.
09:44 Because the cylinders are expensive, we have to go on expeditions to find the right place.
09:53 But the cost of bringing the cylinders down is very high.
10:03 In 2019, the Nepalese government enlisted the National Army to assist in cleaning up Mount Everest and other heavily trafficked mountains.
10:11 The annual programme, the Mountain Cleanup Campaign, costs the government $7.5 million.
10:19 In 2023, the army, in conjunction with Sherpa guides, collected about 30,000 tons of trash.
10:29 In 2022, the army, in conjunction with Sherpa guides, collected about 36 metric tons of waste.
10:35 Despite recent cleanup efforts, Everest's climate is still under threat.
10:41 A 2022 study found that in about 25 years, Everest's highest glacier lost 2,000 years worth of ice.
10:50 The receding ice revealed decades worth of trash, but also some of the hundreds of bodies on the mountain.
10:58 Removing a single dead body can cost as much as $70,000, and even occasionally the lives of the climbers tasked with recovering them.
11:08 But the impact of pollution on Everest isn't limited to the mountain.
11:14 About 2 billion people live around and downstream of the Himalayan mountains, in Nepal, China, India, and other regions in South and East Asia.
11:26 A study of snow and stream water extracted from Everest in 2019 found concentrations of microplastics, predominantly polyester fibres.
11:35 Toxic heavy metals, pathogens, and PFAS, known as forever chemicals, have also been detected in Everest's snow and water.
11:45 Concerns over the polluted water supply have led locals to consider changing their water sources.
11:52 The water here is open to the public.
11:57 We don't use the water here. There are toilets everywhere.
12:02 We don't have a good facility here.
12:05 We get water from the icefalls.
12:16 And for those who earn a living from Everest tourism and mountaineering, alleviating the problem is an existential issue.
12:25 The pollution is increasing.
12:30 The temperature is increasing.
12:35 The snow on the mountains is melting.
12:39 There are only black stones left.
12:42 The tourists don't come here.
12:45 To preserve the natural beauty, we need to control the pollution.
12:52 If we don't manage the problem, we will lose our world-famous mountain.
13:02 It will be a great challenge for us to manage.
13:08 [Music]
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