Officials in Nepal say a government expedition to Mount Everest has removed 11,000 kilograms (24,200 pounds) of garbage and four dead bodies from the world's highest mountain.

Tourism Department official Danduraj Ghimire said Wednesday that cleaners spent weeks on the slopes of Mount Everest collecting food wrappings, cans, bottles and empty oxygen cylinders.

Some of the garbage was flown to Kathmandu and handed over to recyclers in a ceremony Wednesday officially concluding the cleaning campaign.

Officials called it a successful mission but added that more garbage still needs to be removed from Everest.

Hundreds of climbers and their guides and porters spend weeks on Everest every spring.