It's an eyesore': Mt Everest turns into world's highest rubbish dump

A Nepalese sherpa collects rubbish left by climbers at an altitude of 8,000 metres during an Everest clean-up expedition. Photo / Namgyal Sherpa/ Getty

Mt Everest, once one of the world's most beautiful mountains, has turned into the world's highest rubbish dump after decades of commercial mountaineering.

An increasing number of big-spending climbers have paid little attention to the ugly footprint they're leaving behind on the 8848m summit peak.

Furious Sherpas say the mountain now carries tonnes of rubbish and they believe the situation is worsening.

"It is disgusting, an eyesore," Pemba Dorje Sherpa, who has summited Everest 18 times, told AFP. "The mountain is carrying tonnes of waste."

More than 600 people have scaled the world's highest peak so far this year, and melting glaciers caused by global warming are exposing trash that has accumulated on the mountain over the past six decades.

According to Pemba Dorje Sherpa, some officials are turning a blind eye to the rubbish dumping, receiving bribes from climbers.

"There is just not enough monitoring at the high camps to ensure the mountain stays clean," he said.

The Everest industry has boomed in the past 20 years which has drawn in inexperienced climbers who aren't equipped to tackle the mountain, let alone the ability to carry their own rubbish.

140,000 kg of trash in Mt. #Everest region - #litter problem is big in #mountains , @UN report shows way out: https://t.co/HqhBdFmanx pic.twitter.com/fRcZVGG9A6

— UN Environment Programme Europe (@UNEP_Europe) December 12, 2016

Overcrowding and inexperienced climbers are taking its toll on Sherpas who are now having to carry more of the workload.

Sherpas are being made to carrier heavier items, extra oxygen cylinders and ropes up the mountain to help inexperienced climbers.

In the past, climbers would take their own personal kits such as extra clothes, food, sleeping bag and supplemental oxygen, but now with many climbers struggling the Sherpas now have to carry everything, Damian Benegas told AFP.

He said that with the Sherpas' hands full, they are no longer able to carry down rubbish.

"They have to carry the client's gear so they are unable to carry down rubbish," Benegas said.

Everest's rubbish problems are now believed to be polluting water sources in the surrounding valleys, including raw sewage being carried from base camp to the next village.

Last month a 30-strong cleanup team retrieved 8.5 tonnes of waste from the northern slopes, China's state-run Global Times reported.

"It is not an easy job. The Government needs to motivate groups to clean up and enforce rules more strictly."