Overview
- Authorities will end the decade-old $4,000-for-8kg refundable deposit after concluding it failed to curb rubbish on Everest and became an administrative burden.
- Limited oversight beyond a checkpoint above the Khumbu Icefall left higher camps poorly monitored, where enforcement is difficult and dangerous.
- The proposed replacement is a non-refundable fee of about $4,000 to finance additional checkpoints, deploy mountain rangers, and build waste facilities as part of a five-year clean-up action plan.
- Tourism officials say the move creates a dedicated fund for enforcement and remediation rather than relying on behavior-based deposits, with the new system awaiting parliamentary approval.
- Waste managers report climbers often retrieve oxygen cylinders but leave tents and packaging at high camps; recent efforts collected large volumes at base camp, yet tens of tonnes are still estimated to remain higher up.