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[maubrey]

  :_[ :_) :eek)

Have you used them?
What's your experience?
Are they really full, smelly, and disgusting?
Are there queues to get in them in the evenings and mornings?
Is it better to just find a tree, bush, or rock outcropping?

THX!

[Roger]

Such is the significance of these magnificent structures that people arise early to take advantage of these devices.  At night there is a lot of jossling going on as punters jockey for position in the queues. Furthermore some trekking companies offer early starts in an attempt to get to their next campsites before the queues start to form. I find it remarkable that people are queing up just to have their pictures taken outside or for the more adventurous inside. Nor are they really full, smelly and disgusting. I have never heard the tanzanian porters ever complain about them at all. Word is Kinapa is moving towards listing these structures as having world heritage significance.

Now on a more serious note pollution of Kili is and continues to be a really big problem. Long drops are a poor substitute for total waste removal.I lobbied Kinapa and others to introduce compulsory removal of waste as seen on other mountains.  Rather than just dumping any old where as a lot of people do lobby your trekking company and ask what their policy is on waste removal.  I feel strongly about this but hey only united can we make a difference. 
Waste  up higher on Kili just never breaks down as this is not possible with the cold.  As sites fill they just move the huts over a little and start all over again.  Snows and rain fall and waste is washed down the mountain into those pristine water sources.  People dump any old where and do not bury, nor do they burn the paper. One could write for ages on this. 

What do others think of waste removal on mountains and how the issue can be progressed so that mountains worldwide can be kept "clean". This may make a good topic.

[Frans]

Of course we should take care of this and keep our mountains clean. Or would we like the same to happen with all our mountains like what happened with the Mount Blanc where you can follow the yellow line with brown spots to the summit ? See Kiliwarriors for a good example of how outfitters have to tackle this problem.

[7summits]

I think every body agrees that we should take care of the mountains. Of course the best way would be to not go there at all, close 7summits.com and all other operators and leave the mountains in peace.
But that is not realistic, so we should find the best possible way to save some planet for our children.

Kili is being visited by almost 20,000 people a year for about a week each. That is a lot of waste...
To get back to the original question: please use the longdrops and do not go spoiling the place by choosing a rock. It might be better smelling, but it is better to concentrate the waste in a few spots so that at least the rest of the tracks are clean. And do not leave 'white mans' prayer flags' as they call the numerous pieces of toilet paper floating around in Nepal.
If you use the longdrops, you can leave the paper there. If you have to go somewhere else, you can pack the paper with you in a ziplock or something. Trash should be taken off the mountain.

Where does Kiliwarrior empty their Clean Mountain Cans? These were designed for cold mountains like Denali and will be quite smelly on warmer mountains. They say they deposit the waste elsewhere, but where? And is that better than concentrating it in one spot or is it just another sales trick as their customers might be better off, but at a cost for the mountain?

Human waste should not be a problem in the forest zone as it will just decompose. (without toilet paper of course). But higher up the problem is serious. In the end the are all responsible for handling the situation as best as possible. For now this means using the toilets that are available. In the high zones there is little rain, the toilets are not near the major flows. So unless we can find a way to take down everything, use the toilets and question everybody that charges extra to have your waste dumped elsewhere.

Also do not forget that for every tourist there are 2-4 porters, guides etc. It is very easy to say from our desks that they all have to carry theri waste down and ours as well, but that is not realistiic.

Do not get me wrong, I am not pessimistic but realistic. Things need to change, but care must be taken not to fall in simple marketing tricks and we must be aware of the local issues.

All input welcome 

[MikeW]

They should do on Kili what they do on Aconcagua. Big barrels in basecamp that they remove with helicopter, and in higher camps, we poop in plastic bags that we carry down the mountain, thus a cleaner mountain for those who will come in future years. More complicated but better for the environment.

MikeW