KATHMANDU (AFP) -- A team of French environmentalists has removed nearly three tons of garbage including coke bottles and batteries from around the base camp of the world's seventh-tallest summit, Mount Dhaulagiri.

The five-member team supported by 10 trekking staff and 20 Sherpas and porters spent nearly a month at the base camp of the 8,167-metere (26,791-foot) mountain.

Breffni Bolze, 27, a recycling engineer who lives near Paris, said his team had collected empty cans, bottles, plastic material and highly toxic lithium batteries among other rubbish.

But they left behind a body which they came across somewhere above the camp.

"We were very much disturbed to see this very old dried body but we did not dare to remove it for burial or cremation," he told reporters in Kathmandu.

"As the removal of the body may be legally complicated, we decided not to touch it," he said.

Mount Dhaulagiri is known in the mountaineering world as a killer peak.

The main peak was first summited by a German-Austrian team in 1960 but since then nearly 100 climbers, including French, Germans, Britons, Americans, Korean and Japanese have lost their lives on it, mainly in avalanches.

Bolze said the cleaning team had not climbed above a height of 5,300 meters (15,188 feet) because it was too dangerous.

The team had already collected 800 kilograms of rubbish from the mountain in 2002 and he said it was now almost totally clear.

"Mountaineers and trekkers going to Mount Dhaulagiri don't think of their responsibility of cleaning the garbage or waste materials they use in the course of their climbing or trekking," Bolze said on Friday. "The presence of waste not only disrupts the aesthetic value of Nepal's beautiful mountains but often discourages trekkers coming from the outside world."

"During our current expedition, we collected 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of batteries used by different expeditions, 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of tin and metals and 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of glass," he said.

"We transported the garbage from the Dhaulagiri base on 17 mules. Most of the materials were burnt or buried locally but we are taking back the batteries as they have to be recycled in France," he said.

The Dhaulagiri clean-up expedition cost about 100,000 dollars over three years and funds came from a number of organizations including the Kathmandu Environmental Education Project (KEEPS) and the French company ONYX. "Our main objective was to generate awareness on a clean environment in the Himalayan foothills as well as in other parts of the country including the capital city," said Bolze. French Ambassador to Nepal Claude Ambrosini said it was important to safeguard the environment in the Himalayas. "In this effort, the role of the French environmentalist team is highly appreciated," he said. kms/ss/an/th AFP 020422 GMT NOV 03 ????????????????? 07-57-08.J11 ô‘?• ?‘?—÷? ?????????????????