2023. December 29 – 19:07
Bella Nilsson and several employees of her waste management company NMT Think Pink have been arrested for illegally disposing of tens of thousands of tons of waste in Sweden. writes The Guardian. During the investigations, dangerous quantities of arsenic, dioxins, lead, zinc, copper and petroleum products were also found in illegal landfill sites.
NMT Think Pink was a popular waste management company founded by Bella Nelson with her ex-husband Thomas Nelson. The owner referred to herself as the Trash Queen, changed her name to Fariba Vancore, and advertised her company with pink trash bags. They are now accused of handling much more rubbish than allowed at the company's 21 sites in 15 Swedish municipalities, and also want to be held responsible for a toxic fire that occurred three years ago at the company's landfill near Stockholm.
At a hearing held on Thursday in Karlstad District Court, five people, including Vancore and Nelson, were charged with serious environmental crimes, one was charged with aiding and abetting the commission of serious environmental crimes, and five were charged with “solely” environmental crimes. All defendants deny any wrongdoing.
Among other things, the accusation is that the company indiscriminately stored the waste in different areas of Sweden, crushed it, ground it and/or without proper preventive measures, buried it, packed it into bales, and subsequently did not inspect it.
According to prosecutor Anders Gustafsson, after reviewing 45,000 pages of preliminary investigation materials, this is “the largest environmental crime in Sweden” to date.
