Everest region faces growing waste challenge as tourism climbs
Each year, roughly 57,000 visitors make their way to the Everest region, turning a historic ascent into a meaningful pilgrimage. Yet the swelling crowds bring a stubborn environmental problem: waste. With leadership from top mountaineers and backing from the Government of Nepal, a new effort aims to end this pollution crisis by cleaning up Everest and its surroundings.
The initiative is backed by The NeverRest Project, an environmental engineering firm that brings together engineers, technicians, biologists, and climatologists, alongside renowned climbers such as Kilian Jornet, Tamara Lunger, Alex Txikon, Simone Moro, and Nepali mountaineer Lakpa Nuru Sherpa.
According to The NeverRest Project, after more than four decades of commercial expeditions and waste dumping, the plan to clean Everest unfolds in five stages. The program covers everything from assessing tourism’s impact to clearing the mountain’s adjacent areas, with Nepali language outreach and collaboration between local and international experts. The effort emphasizes practical cleanup in the Khumbu and surrounding zones.
According to the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, an NGO appointed by the Nepalese government to monitor and manage waste in Sagarmatha National Park – the Everest region – the annual report shows that between 2019 and 2020 about 7.5 tons of garbage were removed from Everest expeditions in the Khumbu area, while 60 tons were removed between 2017 and 2018 and more than 165 tons from Lukla and nearby zones between 2018 and 2019. These figures were cited by Efe news in reporting on the project. The scale of the problem underscores what mass tourism has done to the ecosystem and aligns with global concerns about climate and biodiversity crises that affect the planet as a whole (citation: Efe agency).
Critics of mass tourism view Everest as a case study in how tourism, climate pressures and biodiversity loss intersect. Yet the project remains hopeful that ongoing campaigns to collect waste and recycle will continue with regional collaborators every season.
Tourism rises
IUCN World Heritage’s statistics show the Everest region attracted about 30,000 visitors annually from 2014 to 2016, rising to around 57,000 between 2018 and 2019. That trajectory suggests tourism has nearly doubled in just a few years. In the summer of 2022, Nepal’s Army led a Mountain Cleanup campaign that removed 33,877 kilograms of waste from Everest, Lhotse, Manaslu, and Kangchenjunga slopes. The NeverRest Project says it now intends expeditions to determine the full scope of the problem, given gaps in data (citation: Army campaign report).
Such efforts are framed against the broader context of globalization and economic shifts, where short-term gains can clash with long-term environmental and social costs. The initiative also plans to establish a sustainable base camp to manage Everest waste and run education programs that raise visibility for Nepali experts in the field.
“Everyone is talking about mountains and sustainable tourism,” noted Dhananjay Regmi, executive director of the Nepal Tourism Board, a government-affiliated body. When promoting mountain tourism, he suggested, it is time to think together to find lasting solutions.
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Note: the initiative remains focused on practical, transpartnerships to curb waste and foster responsible travel in the Everest region, with ongoing assessments and community education at its core. (citation: Nepal Tourism Board and project partners).