Mount Everest submerged by waste: China installs chemical toilets

Decades of tourist expeditions have turned the summit into the highest open-air dump. A series of eco-friendly bathrooms for climbers.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews / Agencies) - To save Everest from being submerged by decades of trekking, China has decided to install chemical toilets in its base, at an altitude of over 7 thousand meters. 

Since the first climbers reached the summit in 1953, the mountain has turned into the highest open-air dump. The waste has disfigured the breathtaking landscape and created serious environmental hazards. The goal is to restore ancient charm to one of the most beautiful corners of the world.

Over the years, tourists have abandoned everything: tents, pegs, ropes, empty oxygen tanks. And of course, excrement. The path that leads to the highest peak, at 8,848 meters above sea level, has become a real obstacle course.

For this reason, in the spring, a Chinese expedition will install a series of eco-friendly bathrooms on the northern slope in Tibet, for climbers. The models, assures Pema Tinley, deputy secretary general of the Tibet Mountaineering Association, will function as those already installed last year on the western side, at 5,200 meters. The biological waste is collected every day and reused by the population as natural fertilizers.