(REUTERS): Trash collected from Mount Everest is set to be transformed into art and displayed in a nearby gallery, to highlight the need to save the world’s tallest mountain from turning into a dumping site.
According to details, used oxygen bottles, torn tents, ropes, broken ladders, cans, and plastic wrappers discarded by climbers and trekkers litter the 29,032 feet tall peak and the surrounding areas.
“We want to showcase how you can transform solid waste into precious pieces of art and generate employment and income,” said Tommy Gustafsson, project director and co-founder of the Sagarmatha Next Centre.
Gustafsson, talking to an international news agency, said that foreign and local artists will be engaged in creating artwork from waste materials and train locals to turn trash into treasures.
“We hope to change the people’s perceptions about the garbage and manage it,” he said, adding that products and artwork will be displayed to raise environmental awareness, or sold as souvenirs with the proceeds going to the conservation of the region.
Trash brought down from the mountain or collected from households and tea houses along the trail is handled and segregated by a local environmental group but the task in a remote region that has no roads is a huge challenge.
