DJI drones are saving Mount Everest from being the 'world's highest garbage dump' — FlyCart 100 removes over 10,000kg of waste to save Sherpas from an eight-hour trek across a hazardous icefall

• DJI announces completion of three drone missions on Everest
• FlyCart 100 transports supplies one way and garbage the other
• DJI Matrice 4E and DJI EV50 involved in other tasks on the mountain

Mount Everest has a trash problem. Decades of expeditions have left the world's highest mountain strewn with discarded oxygen canisters, abandoned tents, food packaging and worse — so much of it that the peak has earned the unflattering nickname of the "world's highest garbage dump." But DJI thinks its drones can help clean up the mess.

The drone giant has announced the successful completion of three missions on Everest, the headline act being the DJI FlyCart 100. DJI's heavy-lift delivery drone has spent the 2026 spring climbing season shuttling supplies and garbage between Base Camp and Camp 1 on the mountain's Nepalese south side.

Working with local drone company Airlift, DJI says the FlyCart 100 has hauled a total of 10,073kg between the two camps: 7,215kg of climbing supplies (think oxygen tanks, ropes and ladders) on the way up; 2,858kg of waste on the way back down. Going forward, the drone will assist in removing approximately 10,000kg of waste per season from higher camps that previously couldn't be cleaned up at all.

That's a serious amount of junk being shifted, but it's sorely needed. According to National Geographic, the average Everest climber generates around 8kg of trash during their expedition, most of which is left behind on the mountain. And with over 600 people attempting the summit every season — each supported by at least one local guide or porter — the rubbish is piling up quickly.

Eight minutes vs eight hours

The FlyCart 100's advantages aren't limited to its payload — the time (and risk) it saves is also a major boon. Traditionally, ferrying supplies from Base Camp to Camp 1 means Sherpas trekking for six to eight hours on foot through the Khumbu Icefall, a treacherous maze of shifting ice towers and crevasses that ranks among the most dangerous sections of the entire climb. The FlyCart 100 can cover the same route in just eight minutes.

That's not to say the drone has an easy ride. The FlyCart 100 can carry up to 100kg at sea level, but Everest is as far from sea level as our planet's surface gets. In DJI's tests, the drone lifted up to 47kg while operating at altitudes of over 6,300m, in temperatures ranging from -15°C to 5°C — conditions that would ground most consumer drones (and most helicopters, for that matter).

"Our team remains dedicated to making the world's highest mountain safer and cleaner for Sherpas and mountaineers worldwide," said DJI spokesperson Christina Zhang. "The success of our latest operations marks a proud milestone, and we hope our ongoing collaboration with the scientific community will further advance drone technology — saving lives and supporting conservation efforts across the globe."

The cleanup effort closely aligns with Nepal's wider push to restore the mountain, including the Nepal Mountain Association's "Zero Waste Initiative 2027." The FlyCart 100 will also support the Nepalese climbing community's goal of transporting around 5,000 oxygen cylinders between Base Camp and Camp 1 each season.

Mavic 3 vs the mountain

DJI has some history on Everest. In 2022, a DJI Mavic 3 became the first drone to capture footage from the mountain's 8,848.86m summit, while in 2024 the FlyCart 30 completed the world's first drone delivery tests on the mountain.

This year's missions went further still: alongside the FlyCart 100's headline-grabbing delivery runs, a DJI Matrice 4E mapped over 3km² of the Khumbu Icefall in centimeter-level detail in just 3.5 hours, giving climbing teams real-time hazard data for planning safer routes. Meanwhile, on the mountain's north side, DJI's first eVTOL delivery drone, the EV50, carried ozone-measuring equipment for atmospheric research, reaching a maximum altitude of 8,861m — higher than the summit itself.

None of this will solve Everest's overcrowding problem, and there are still literal tons of historic garbage buried in its glaciers, with climate change exposing more of it every year. But if a drone can achieve in eight minutes what once took a Sherpa a full day of life-threatening work, it does seem like progress is truly being made.

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