Nepal has introduced a law that will require Mount Everest climbers to bring back at least eight kilograms of rubbish with them, an official said on Monday.
The directive is part of the drive to clean up the garbage accumulating on the world’s highest mountain, which is littered with oxygen cylinders, trash left behind by climbers and even bodies.
Every climber will have to bring down at least eight kilograms of garbage, starting from the April climbing season, tourism ministry official Madhusudan Burlakoti said.
The ministry said climbers who flout the law will be penalised but the sanction has yet to be defined.
Climbers will have to turn in the trash to the government office at base camp on their return.