Nepal uses drones to clean up Mount Everest’s trash-covered slopes
Between mid-April and mid-May, the drones operated by Nepal-based firm Airlift Technology handled more than 280 kilograms of refuse
Human waste, empty oxygen cylinders, kitchen leftovers and discarded ladders.
Sherpas working on Mount Everest carry all that and more – 20 kilograms (44 pounds) per person – navigating a four-hour hike that traverses crumbling glacial ice and treacherous crevasses to bring trash back to base camp.
During the most recent climbing season, they had new help from two giant SZ DJI Technology Co. drones, which can complete the same journey in six minutes, sharing the task of clearing an expanding volume of refuse piling up on the world’s highest peak.
Drones have been deployed to haul garbage from Everest’s Camp 1, which sits at 6,065 metres (19,898 feet) above sea level, down to base camp, about 700 metres below. After a DJI FlyCart 30 delivers supplies like ropes and ladders up the peak, Sherpas hook on a debris-filled garbage bag for the drone’s return journey as it buzzes down the mountain, sounding like an oversized mosquito.
Between mid-April and mid-May, the drones operated by Nepal-based firm Airlift Technology handled more than 280 kilograms of refuse, according to the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, a local non-profit that manages trash collection on Everest.
The drones are part of a growing effort to clean the slopes of the mountain, which has become so trash-strewn it’s been referred to as the “world’s highest garbage dump.” Enlisting robots can help not only speed up the process but also reduce the danger for the Sherpas carrying decades-worth of garbage down the treacherous peak.