BEIJING - A Chinese team set out for Mount Everest at the weekend on a mission to pick up a mountain of trash left behind by climbers and tourists, the China Daily said on Monday.
Some 615 tons of waste, including "more and more poisonous elements", had been strewn across Mount Everest since 1921, the newspaper said without giving details.
"The clean-up operation will only take place on the Chinese side of the mountain -- it also borders Nepal -- and will concentrate on removing litter at lower levels left by sightseers," it said.
The expedition will include local Tibetans and volunteers from the press, businesses and environmental organisations.
Several teams have cleared more than 10 tonnes of rubbish since the mid-1990s after complaints from climbers that Everest had turned into the world's highest garbage dump.
The clean-up comes as a team of Chinese surveyors are working their way to the summit to measure the height of the peak that China refers to as Qomolangma, using the Tibetan name, instead of Everest, which the state-run People's Daily newspaper has called "an error made by British colonialists over a century ago".
The survey was meant to assess the precise height of the ever-growing peak and track the expansion and retreat of its glaciers, the newspaper said.
More than 1,500 climbers have reached the summit of the 8,850-metre (29,000-ft) Everest since 1953. At least 185 people have died on its slopes.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
