On 5 June 2024, World Environment Day, the Nepal Army concluded its Mountain Clean-up Campaign 2024, announcing it had collected about 11 tonnes of waste, four bodies and a skeleton from Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse.
In short: About three tonnes of decomposable waste went to villages below base camp; the remaining eight were carried down by porters and yaks and trucked to Kathmandu for sorting and recycling.
A recurring effort
Clean-ups have run most years since 2019. Combined with the waste bag rule, they aim to reverse decades of litter on the high camps.