Mt Everest: Highest dumpster in the world

Traces of microplastics have been found close to the top of Everest, a study showed on Nov 20, 2020, likely originating from equipment and food wrappers from the hundreds of climbers who summit the world's highest peak every year. Photo: Prakash Mathema/AFP

Traces of microplastics have been found close to the top of Mount Everest, a study showed on Nov 20, likely originating from equipment used by the hundreds of climbers who summit the world’s highest peak every year.

Fluorescent tents, discarded climbing equipment, empty gas canisters and even frozen excrement have long littered the well-trodden route to the 8,848m high summit, earning it the name of “the highest dumpster in the world”. But in the first study of microplastics on Everest, by a research team part of the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, the tiny pollutants were found as high as 8,440m above sea level, although concentration levels were higher at the mountain’s base camp.