Everyone knows the name of the highest mountain in the world.

But the real story is bigger than Everest.

Welcome to the Khumbu Valley and Sagarmatha National Park.

While climbers started coming for the peaks and tourists started coming for the views.

They all return for the people.

Travelers take on long journeys to come here.

These Himalayan villages have grown to welcome visitors from all over the world.

While some were here from the start.

Most of the people who come to see Mt Everest enter Sagarmatha National Park for the very first time.

The Sherpas have lived here for generations.

When I was a kid, Namche was just traders and farmers.

My name is Pemba Gyalzen and I’m the owner of Khumbu Lodge.

My mom and dad started one of the first lodges in Namche.

Back then, we didn’t have electricity or running water.

Thanks to the mountains Namche has gone from a small village to the hub of Khumbu.

Today we have over ten cafés in Namche and three bars that stay open all night.

We have everything we need and it is a lot thanks to tourism.

This reality has led to a whole new generation of Sherpas.

Villages like Namche Bazaar now have schools, hospitals and basic services.

Farming and trading is a thing of the past.

As the Sherpas have become expert guides and busin...

So economically it’s been a boom around the Khumbu region.

I love what tourism has done for me and my community.

But I think we have lost some of our culture along the way.

My name is Dawa Yangzum Sherpa.

I’m a climber, athlete and ... I’m grateful that people from all over the world come to see Nepal and all of our mountains.

Local population is about 5000 and every year or twice a year more than 40 000 people enters plus another 40 000 of the supporters and porters.

So that brings a lot of trash and pollution.

While these mountains might look the same as they have done ... their shadows fall on a completely new reality.

Most of the plastic and metal that has ever come up to the Khumbu Valley has never left.

In 1990 due to a lot of trash, we realised we had to... From 1990 the tourism numbers started increasing.

I think there was about 8000 - 10 000 tourists in that ye... Due to this many of the international media outlets ... As pressure was mounting in Nepal, The Khumbu needed a new organization to keep the tra...

This is when the SPCC was born.

It’s they who collect all the waste from tourism and lodges in the national park.

Even with very limited resources they have kept our trails clean for over 20 years.

The ever-increasing number of visitors put immense pressure on the environment in the Khumbu.

If we want to preserve this place, we have to act now.

When Everest was climbed for the first time in 1953, it set this whole region on a new path.

A transformation that was inevitable.

Since then the mountains have drawn the world to ...

But some things simply need to go back out.

That’s where the SPCC started, by picking up the bottles one by one.

And that is why we founded Sagarmatha Next.

A new hub of innovation to help the SPCC change the very perception of waste.

We work to inspire people to look at waste in a complet... A resource that can be turned into new things like artwork and design products, with actual value.

Still most of the waste needs to be taken out from the Khumbu for proper recycling.

By shredding plastic and metal, we can pack it light enough for any traveler to carry.

It’s what we call the “Carry me back” system.

As you leave Sagarmatha National Park, you can choose to take one of these bags down with you.

This way we can build a new infrastructure using the natu... of the visitors.

And step by step, we can start reversing the flow of waste.

Giving every visitor a chance to be part of the solution.

And that’s how it starts.

If you start, more will follow.

If we got all the people who visit the Everest region to... waste wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

But we need your help.