super local x sagarmatha next turn waste from world’s highest peaks into colorful mementos

‘carry me back’: managing waste in nepal’s everest region 

 

Dutch design firm Super Local partnered with Nepalese nonprofit organization Sagarmatha Next to launch ‘Carry me back’, an initiative to remove, process, and transform municipal waste from the world’s highest garbage dump — the Everest Region of Nepal — into colorful plastic-based products. ‘The ‘Carry me back’ scheme turns trash to treasure. Propelled by tourists who carry the waste, discarded in the Himalayan mountains, back down the trail,’ writes Super Local.

looking towards the southwest face of Mount Everest | all images courtesy of Super Local

 

 

The majestic scenery of Sagarmatha National Park, home of Mount Everest, draws over 80,000 visitors annually, offering tourists an unforgettable experience in nature. While introducing considerable socio-economic benefits to the area, touristic activies have also resulted in tragic amounts of waste to pile up, compromising the egion’s delicate ecosystem in the last few decades.

 

In light of this, Sagarmatha Next (see more here) and Super Local (see more here) partnered with a local waste management organization to create ‘Carry me back’, a crowdsourced waste removal program. This system harnesses the movement of locals and tourists from the Everest region to Kathmandu, where a partner facility recycles the trash. Locals and visitors alike have responded enthusiastically to the program, with some people carrying up to 14 kilos of waste on their way. Tons of it is now removed from the Everest region every hiking season.

municipal waste is separated and salvaged for removal from a dumping pit

 

 

‘from the himalayas’ collection: turning trash to treasure 

 

While some materials, like water bottles and aluminum cans, are processed on an industrial scale, Super Local was tasked with converting HDPE water bottle caps into unique products that tourists can buy, both averting waste and financing Sagarmatha Next’s important work. The final output is the ‘From the Himalayas’ product collection, which consists of three different pebble-shaped plastic stones and a scale model of the region’s most iconic peaks.

 

These colorful products use thousands of recycled bottle caps and are perfect items for tourists to remember their adventure, and hopefully their responsibility to the environment, even as they return home. In fact, each stone can be used as a keychain ‘which serve as a memento for tourists to remember their trip to the Everest region, replacing the harmful practice of bringing stones back from the area,’ notes the Dutch firm. 

municipal waste is collected and removed from the Everest region

‘Carry me Back’ pouches filled with HDPE plastic bottle caps

hikers remove waste by travelling with ‘Carry me back’ bags to lower regions where it is processed

bottle lids are sorted and shredded at the recycling facility