2024-09-03 04:56:24
A licensed waste management company was accused of dumping around 200,000 tonnes of waste from the Stockholm area at 21 sites, without any intention to operate properly.
Among those charged with “heinous environmental crime” is its former executive director Bella Nilsson, a former footballer who once called herself the “Queen of Trash”.
High levels of PCBs, lead, mercury, arsenic and other chemicals were released into the air, soil and water, prosecutors said, threatening “the health of people, animals and plant life”.
They said that NMT Ronu Pink who is now in debt “waste is collected without the intention or ability to bring it in line with environmental law”.
The waste includes everything from household appliances to electronics, metals, plastic, wood, tires and toys.
Think Pink had left the piles “unsorted” and abandoned, according to the charge sheet.
The ex-husband of Nilsson Thomas, the founder of the company, and Leif Ivan Karlsson, an eccentric entrepreneur who plays a reality show about the high life, are also among those accused, along with the “waste dealer” Robert Silverstein.
An environmental consultant who helped the company pass inspections, Magnus Karlsson, was charged as an accessory.
All 11 accused have denied committing any crime.
In its heyday from 2018 to 2020, the company’s fuschia waste bags can be seen on many Stockholm streets, and the company twice won a prestigious Swedish business award.
Advertising
Burning dumps
Consider pink rented by communities, housing, co-ops and private individuals to recycle and dispose of waste.
But the business collapsed in 2020 when its owners were arrested.
“He has an explanation for all this,” his lawyer Jan Tibbling told Dagens Nyheter daily on Monday.
Advertising
Considered the biggest environmental crime case in Sweden, the police investigation runs to more than 45,000 pages, with 150 witnesses due to testify.
A lawyer, Linda Schon, told Dagens Nyheter that they had to limit the charges to 21 points because they were running out of time.
“There may have been a number of sites that we have not been able to investigate,” but “we believe that 21 sites are enough to show that the crimes were systematic,” he said.
Several municipalities have sought damages for clean-up and disposal costs, totaling 260 million kronor ($25.4 million).
One of the biggest claims is from the Botkyrka council, where two Think Pink waste piles sleep for months in 2020 and 2021 after repeated commuting. One is near two nature reserves.
The trial, which began at 09.30am, is expected to last until May 2025.
Article by Pia Ohlin of AFP
#people #trial #Swedens #biggest #waste #scandal