KATHMANDU, June 6: The Nepali Army (NA) has collected as much as 34 tons of waste from four mountains under the 'Clean Mountain Campaign' this year.

This year's waste collection remains the highest in terms of amount as compared to 2019 (around 10 tons) and 2021 (around 27.6 tons), according to the NA. 

The campaign that kicked off on March 5 came to a conclusion marking the World Environment Day on Sunday.  

On the occasion, the team involved in the cleaning campaign handed over the flag to Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Prabhu Ram Sharma to mark the end of the campaign for this year. 

The campaign was launched in association with various non-governmental agencies and the private sector. The garbage was retrieved from Sagarmatha, Lhotse, Kanchenjunga and Manaslu.

Among the solid waste brought from the mountains were 7,227 kgs of biodegradable waste and the remaining were non-biodegradable, shared the NA. Similarly, the cleaning team collected the skeletons of two humans from Mt Kanchenjunga. 

According to Himanshu Khadka, Director of the Campaign and Director at the National Park and Wildlife Reserve Directorate, the cleaning team included 30 NA personnel and 48 Sherpas as support staff.

The biodegradable waste was handed over to the local governments concerned while the non-biodegradable waste was given to various organizations for recycling. Some waste is yet to be handed over, the army said.

Also addressing the event, Director General at the Department of Tourism Taranath Adhikari said they have felt the need to have a separate battalion or company for the conservation and cleaning of the mountains. 

Army Chief Sharma said it is the supreme duty of humans to maintain balance in the environment in the face of growing environmental degradation. Stating that the 'Clean Mountain Campaign' is one of the government's efforts toward environment conservation, CoAS  Sharma said that the NA had been playing a leading role in this regard.

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