KATHMANDU: As the dust settles on the busiest climbing season Mt Everest has ever seen, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) has wrapped up its Spring 2026 cleanup campaign with a staggering 90,329 kg of waste hauled off the world's highest mountain, and a clear signal that Everest rangers will remain at the centre of its strategy going forward.

Of the total, 80,579 kg was removed from the Everest Base Camp area, broken down into 34,239 kg of human waste, 21,603 kg of kitchen waste, 19,238 kg of mixed waste, and 5,499 kg of recyclable waste. A further 9,750 kg was brought down from above Base Camp, comprising 4,964 kg of recyclable waste and 4,786 kg of mixed waste, alongside 1,769 poop bags carried down from the higher camps.

A new layer of monitoring

The numbers cap off a season that began with SPCC tightening its waste rules back in March, when the committee, backed by the Department of Tourism (DoT) under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, announced that climbers would need to bring back at least 2 kg of waste specifically from above Camp II, on top of the existing 8 kg quota collected at Base Camp.

That rule was put into practice for the first time this season through a dedicated Everest Rangers Base at Camp II, where SPCC stationed monitoring staff to verify that returning climbers were indeed carrying the mandated waste down from Camp III and Camp IV, rather than padding their quota with rubbish gathered lower on the mountain.

"As the Sagarmatha cleanup directives of the Nepal government have endorsed Everest rangers, SPCC is committed to implementing them," said SPCC’s CEO Tshering Sherpa.

With the system now tested through one of the most crowded seasons on record, SPCC plans to push the ranger presence even higher next year, to Camp IV, on the South Col, a stretch of the mountain that has been flagged as the most polluted site on Everest for decades.

Busiest season, biggest effort

The cleanup effort came against the backdrop of record traffic on the mountain. According to SPCC, Spring 2026 saw 701 climbers active across Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse combined, the highest single-season figure ever recorded in the Khumbu region. Despite the surge, SPCC's waste management operations held the line, recovering 1,226 kg of non-recyclable waste from Camp III and the South Col alone, along with 210 EPI gas canisters, while a further 6,522 kg of waste, including plastics, metal cans, tents, ropes and kitchen materials, passed through SPCC's Khumbu Icefall checkpoint over the season.

SPCC also used the milestone to acknowledge its own field staff, calling this season's effort the biggest yet from its garbage management team. Beyond the cleanup work, the committee singled out staff members who stepped away from their waste-monitoring duties to help in the search for missing guide Hillary Dawa Sherpa, who survived after days stranded in Everest's death zone. "That's the spirit of SPCC," the organisation said in its season wrap-up, thanking its team for "everything you carry."

Part of a wider push

The ranger expansion and record collection figures arrive as SPCC has spent the season layering in additional environmental measures. Under its "Everest 1° Initiative," a partnership with the Cimex BYD Charity Foundation (CBCF) launched on World Environment Day, the Camp II Rangers Base was established with CBCF's backing, while a 5 KVA solar PV power system was installed at Base Camp to cut reliance on conventional fuel. The initiative builds on a 2025 drone pilot with Airlift Technologies, in which 283 kg of waste was airlifted from Camp I, a glimpse of how technology may extend the reach of cleanup efforts at extreme altitude in seasons to come.

"More than 80 tonnes of waste, oxygen cylinders, plastics, climbing equipment, human waste, remain on the mountain, threatening glaciers, water sources, and the communities that depend on them," Cimex Inc Chairman Anil Shrestha said when the partnership was reaffirmed in June. SPCC and CBCF say they are now working toward a climber Environmental Orientation Programme, dedicated waste facilities at higher camps, and expanded drone-assisted transport for future seasons.

Sherpa shared that SPCC has also partnered with Airlift Technologies to use drone technology to transport loads to high camps and bring garbage back to Everest Base Camp. "Drones are really helpful for carrying garbage as well as supporting expeditions on Mt. Everest," Sherpa said. According to him, SPCC also plans to operate its own drone to expand its initiatives to protect the mountain environment. In addition, Sherpa noted that Everest rangers would be crucial for SPCC in keeping the environment clean on the world's highest peak.

Founded in 1991 by local Sherpa communities, SPCC has overseen waste management across Sagarmatha National Park for more than three decades and has maintained the Khumbu Icefall Route since 1997 through its team of Icefall Doctors. With Spring 2026 now closed out as the busiest, and by SPCC's measure, one of the cleanest, seasons on record, the committee's next test will be whether its ranger system can hold up at altitude all the way to the South Col.