The Himalayas may be one of nature’s most wild and challenging places to venture, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming overrun by adventurers trying to tackle the world’s highest peaks. And with the influx of people, came an influx of trash.
And trash hasn’t been taken off of the mountains in decades, creating a real problem for the environment, and for the local population as well.
Enter Super Local, a Dutch design firm, that has taken it upon themselves to create something unique and valuable out of all that trash.
Through their innovative process, they’ve been able to mobilize people to retrieve garbage and recyclables from base camps and other far-flung trails, employed others to process that trash, and create compelling, eye-catching souvenirs from the recycled material. This project won a Dutch design award for its innovative spirit and impact.
Read about the process, and check out the cool designs below.
“During the trekking season, approximately 1 ton of waste is left each day in the Everest region. The high altitude, lack of connectivity, and limited recycling infrastructure make it challenging to remove waste, resulting in more than 80 open pits in the region in which waste is burned – contaminating the soil, water, and air and threatening biodiversity.”
“Once waste is transported via the “Carry me back” program to Kathmandu, it is processed. While some materials, like PET bottles and aluminum cans, are processed on a more industrial scale, for the processing of HDPE water bottle caps, Super Local was tasked with converting this waste material into unique products that tourists can buy both averting waste and financing Sagarmatha Next’s important work.
Super Local developed an end-to-end process including setting up an appropriate plastics workspace, building 2 hand-operated plastic injection machines utilizing the open-source blueprints of Precious Plastic, and training the local staff through hands-on support during the first weeks of production.”
“The “Carry me back” program is a crowdsourced waste removal system that harnesses the movement of locals and tourists from the mountains to lower regions where transported waste can be recycled.
Waste is collected from the open pits, restaurants, lodges, and hiking trail trash bins by the local waste management organization Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC). At their new processing facility, waste is sorted, shredded, and packed in 1 kilo “Carry me back” bags.
The filled bags are then offered to locals and visitors at a pick-up station. The ”Carry me back” bags are easily clipped onto backpacks and transported via the trail to the regional airport. Private airlines transport it to Kathmandu where a partner facility recycles the waste.”
“The final output is the “From the Himalayas” product collection, which consists of 3 different pebble-shaped plastic stones and a scale model of the Himalayas’ 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.”
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