Aerial Garbage Collection on Mount Everest with the Use of Drones
Mount Everest's Trash Mess Sees a High-Flying Solution
Time's ticking on the world's tallest peak, as it drowns in debris. Drones could be our saviors.
Date & Time of Broadcast: 25th of June, 2025, 09:57AM-00:52 min
Broadcasting Rights: GERMAN BROADCASTING
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Our beloved Mount Everest, standing tall with its icy cliffs, harbors a grim truth. This towering peak is plagued with wrecked tents, forgotten food packaging, abandoned oxygen tanks, and unsightly human waste. But fear not, drones are swooping in to tackle this mountainous mess.
With the ability to swiftly collect and transport garbage and equipment, drones are not only making life easier for climbers and sherpas, but also playing a crucial part in cleaning up the mountain's environment.
So, how do drones help clean up Everest?
- Waste Management: In a span of just three months, from March to May 2025, drones collected a whopping 1,000 kilograms of waste [1][3]. Initial test flights yielded around 234 kilograms [3], while subsequent flights on nearby peaks snagged up to 641 kilograms [1][3]. On Everest itself, these aerial assistants aided in carry away around 300 kilograms of equipment daily [3].
- Equipment Transport: Drones ferry around heavy climbing gear including icefall route fixing tools, ropes, and even oxygen cylinders [3]. In fact, they transported over 1,300 kilograms of such equipment during the 2025 season [1].
- Operational Coordination: To ensure the safety and efficiency of drone operations, teams collaborate with local air traffic controllers and rescue specialists, adapting to the busy climbing environment and coping with helicopter flights [3].
This innovative use of drones eases the burden on sherpas, reducing their physical strain, and offers a greener, cleaner alternative for managing Everest’s waste problem by removing trash and minimizing our footprint on the mountain [1][3]. Drones are indeed shaking up climbing logistics on Everest, demonstrated by their dual capabilities of cargo delivery and waste removal, significantly contributing to the mountain's cleanliness and the well-being of climbers [3].
References:
[1] "Drones tackle pollution on Everest." BBC News, 20 May 2025.[2] "Mount Everest trash picked up by drones." Al Jazeera, 10 June 2025.[3] "Using drones to clean up Mount Everest." CNN Business, 15 June 2025.
- The innovative use of drones is revolutionizing waste management on Mount Everest, collecting approximately 1,000 kilograms of garbage and equipment in a mere three months from March to May, 2025.
- In addition to waste management, drones are also being utilized for equipment transport, delivering heavy climbing gear such as icefall route fixing tools, ropes, and oxygen cylinders.
- Drones are not only improving the efficiency of waste management on Mount Everest, but they are also promoting environmental science by minimizing the impact of human activity on the mountain's delicate ecosystem. With the help of drones, climate-change researchers in the field of environmental-science are able to study the mountain with less disturbance, allowing for more accurate data and a better understanding of the effects of climate-change on the region. And as for those who enjoy the latest gadgets and technology, the use of drones offers a new and exciting way to contribute to environmental cleanup efforts.
