KATHMANDU, April 4 (Reuters) - A dozen climbers from Japan and Nepal hope to clear away up to a tonne of rubbish from Mount Everest, the latest in a series of campaigns to keep the world's highest peak clean, the leader of the team said on Wednesday.

Every year more than 50 climbing teams from around the world attempt to reach Everest's peak, 8,850 metres (29,035 feet) above sea level.

Each team carries tonnes of supplies and climbing gear, including oxygen bottles, gas cylinders, plastic packaging, ropes and batteries, much of which is left littering the mountain.

"We plan to collect about one tonne of garbage around the Advanced Base Camp at 6,400 metres (21,000 feet) on the north side of Mount Everest," said Japan's Ken Noguchi, one of two Japanese climbers being joined by 10 Nepalese porters for the expedition.

"We'll bring the trash to Kathmandu and then take them to Tokyo to raise awareness about keeping the mountain clean," Noguchi told reporters at a press conference in the Nepalese capital.

Noguchi has led several similar expeditions to Mount Everest in the past, collecting a total of 8.8 tonnes of rubbish from both sides of the mountain.

More than 1,500 people have climbed Mount Everest since 1953 when New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first scaled the mountain.

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