Climbing Mount Everest just isn’t what it used to be. Amid a host of problems is the amount of trash that has been left behind, amounting to around 11 tons.
So a ban of single use plastics will begin January 2020. It prohibits trekkers from bringing and shops from selling plastic soft drink bottles and single-use plastics less than 0.03 millimeters thick. However, the ban does not apply to plastic water bottles.
An advisory panel recommended trekkers should first be required to scale a smaller summit of at least 21,000 feet. The panel also suggested increasing the price of a summit climb from $11,000 to at least $35,000.