Nepal has announced it will end its long-standing deposit scheme that required climbers to pay $4,000, refundable only if they brought back at least 8kg of waste from Mount Everest, calling it a failure after 11 years.

Authorities said the program had “not shown tangible results” and became an administrative burden, despite most climbers returning some trash.

Officials noted that the scheme mainly ensured waste removal from lower camps, while higher camps — where the garbage problem is worst — remained largely unmonitored. Climbers at high altitudes typically bring back only oxygen bottles, leaving tents, cans, and food packaging behind. Each climber produces an average of 12kg of waste during expeditions that last up to six weeks.

Nepal plans a new system under which climbers will pay a non-refundable clean-up fee, likely $4,000, to fund checkpoints at higher camps and deploy mountain rangers to ensure trash is returned. The initiative is part of a five-year mountain clean-up action plan aimed at tackling the growing environmental impact of climbing tourism, as thousands of climbers and support staff ascend Everest each year.

Tourism officials said the revised approach will create a dedicated fund for clean-up and monitoring, responding to long-standing concerns from the Sherpa community over the ineffectiveness of the deposit scheme.

Source: BBC