'Queen of Trash' in dock in Sweden's biggest toxic waste scandal
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00She once called herself the Queen of Trash, but now, as she goes on trial in Sweden's
00:05largest environmental crime case, it may transpire that Bela Nilsson never lived up to that name.
00:11Nilsson is the former chief executive of Think Pink, a once-lauded waste management company
00:17hired by construction businesses, municipalities and individuals to dispose of everything from
00:22building waste to toys.
00:24But according to prosecutors, it left mounds of waste abandoned, with no plans to process
00:29it.
00:32During its heyday, its pink waste bags could be spotted across the capital, and between
00:372017 and 2019, Think Pink was listed as one of the country's fastest-growing companies.
00:44But the tide turned in 2020 when the company's owners were arrested.
00:49Several of the rubbish dumps caught fire, including this one south of Stockholm that
00:53burned for months in 2021.
00:56According to the charge sheet, the way Think Pink mismanaged waste resulted in harmful
01:00levels of arsenic, lead and other chemicals being released into the environment.
01:06A preliminary investigation ran to tens of thousands of pages.
01:09150 witnesses are to testify in the trial that kicked off on Tuesday.
01:14There are so many traces with chats and messages and emails sent to one another.
01:21So I have never seen anything like that, like 44,000 emails in one computer.
01:27I think it's the coming generations that will pay for this crime.
01:31The damage that we will see in generations' time, that we can only guess.
01:36Now bankrupt, Think Pink is accused of dumping at least 200,000 tonnes of waste in 21 locations
01:43across Sweden.
01:44Nilsson, along with the 10 others accused, has denied wrongdoing and argues she's the
01:49victim of a conspiracy by company rivals.
01:53The trial is expected to last nine months.