Pots and lamps... a new high for garbage from the Everest
KATHMANDU: Upcycled items, from pots to lamps, crafted from Everest waste products are slowly making their way into homes across Nepal’s capital Kathmandu as authorities and businesses look for fresh ways to tackle the damage caused by decades of commercial mountaineering.
Tonnes of trash - including empty cans and gas canisters, bottles, plastic and discarded climbing gear - litter the mountain, dubbed the “highest dumpster in the world”.
After heavy criticism for the condition of one of its greatest natural resources, Nepal’s government and mountaineering groups this year organised a six-week clean-up.
Scaling almost 8,000 m from base camp to the closest camp to the summit, a 14-strong team retrieved more than 10 tonnes of trash that was flown or driven to recycling centres in Kathmandu.
Workers there manually sorted the materials - each type following a different path to rebirth: Iron was sent to rod manufacturing firms, shredded aluminium cans to utensil makers, and discarded bottles re-fashioned into household items. Their products are now used in upmarket hotels, restaurants, and homes around the capital, and there is growing consumer interest in goods made this way.
A new waste facility - called Sagarmatha Next after the Nepalese name for Everest - is also being completed in Syangboche at an altitude of nearly 3,800 m. It will process garbage, and collaborate with artists and innovators to make new products in a bid to tap into this burgeoning market for Everest ‘products’. AFP