In a first of its kind initiative to clean Mount Everest, a joint army team of India and Nepal has collected over 4,000 kilogrammes of garbage that was polluting the slopes of the world's tallest peak.
The joint Sagarmatha expedition team handed over 4,010 kg of garbage and trash that it collected from and below the South Col to the Mount Everest Pollution Control Committee in Namche of Solukhumbu district yesterday.
The solid waste, including various goods used and discarded by mountaineers in course of their Everest expeditions.
The team involved army personnel from Nepal and India as part of the Joint Sagarmatha Mountaineering and Cleanliness Campaign 2013.
The team had spent one and half months to collect the waste scattered in the world's highest mountain and its base camp, The Himalayan Times reported.
A function was organised at the Nepal Army's Baraha Dal Battalion in Namche to hand over the waste yesterday, the Nepal Army's Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) said in a statement.
According to the Nepal Army, the joint campaign was the first of its kind and was carried out to reduce the pollution at Mount Everest (8,848 metres).
The team collected 2250 kgs of biohazardous waste and 1760 kgs of less toxic waste notwithstanding the extreme weather and geographical location.
The Committee will dump or destroy the waste without affecting the environment.
