Yeti Airlines-Tara Air to airlift 100 tons of waste to clean up Everest

Yeti Airlines-Tara Air in partnership with Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), Himalaya Club and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has formally initiated the process to airlift 100 tons of non-biodegradable waste in the year 2018 from the Everest region to be recycled in Kathmandu. This campaign is a continuation of the Airline’s CSR programme for Waste Management and Environmental Awareness since 2008 in the Everest region. At the inaugural programme on March 17 at Lukla Airport, the airline flagged off its first flight for the clean-up campaign and shared information about the quantity of collected waste in various collection centers in the Everest region along with a time-bound plan to airlift it. Around 5,000 kgs of waste was airlifted on the same day. Yeti Airlines-Tara Air has set a target of flying out 100 tons of waste from the Everest region for the year 2018 as part of its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly relating to responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), climate change (SDG13), biodiversity consumption (SDG 15) and partnership (SDG 17). The waste will be taken to Kathmandu for recycling. While the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), a local environmental conservation organisation and the Himalaya Club Lukla, coordinates the collection of wastes in the Everest region, Blue Waste to Value, a recycling firm in Kathmandu recycles the wastes, as part of its agreement with SPCC. The waste comprises of mostly empty beer bottles and cans, empty food tins and discarded mountaineering and trekking equipment.