A company that “helped” Swedish municipalities and homes dispose of their waste hid a dark truth that resulted in 11 arrests, including that of Bella Nilsson, who called herself the “trash queen.”
It can take more than 500 years for waste to degrade. and, at the same time, its mismanagement can lead to the release of harmful chemicals into the environment. This is why the economic model of Bella Nilsson, an Iranian woman in charge of waste collection and disposal ended up leaving her behind bars.
The businesswoman – who dubbed herself “queen of waste” – is being tried in Sweden, after illegally dumping a dozen mountains of waste in the country. Along with ten other people, they were charged with “aggravated environmental crime.”
According to the context, Nilsson, under his company name NMT Think Pink, reportedly dumped or buried a total of 200,000 tonnes of waste at 21 locations in Sweden between 2015 and 2020.
This is how she became accused of one of the biggest environmental crimes Sweden has ever seen.
Who is Bella Nilsson and what has she done, the queen of trash?
Bella Nilsson (now Fariba Vancor) was the CEO of waste management company NMT Think Pink. He was born in Tehran, Iran, and emigrated to Sweden at the age of 16.
NOW, he is 57 years old (and has different names).
In the 90s, her name was Isabella Johansson. At the time she was an exotic dancer, but her business skills soon led her to become the manager of a nightclub in Stockholm.
Around this time, she went to prison for the first time, after being convicted of “accounting crimes,” according to what she heard. Univision . He spent three years behind bars.
Once free, Together with her ex-husband Thomas Nilsson, they founded the waste collection company Think Pink. As the name suggests, They were distinguished by their fuchsia pink garbage bags and, as was believed at the time, by their good functioning.
So much so that at one point the Swedish media Swedish Herald He pointed out that the Nilsson couple’s business was one of the best in 2019: they made a profit of $871,000.
Think Pink was so popular that it quickly He was hired by construction companies, municipalities and private households, who promised to get rid of everything they needed: building materials, electronics, plastics, wood, toys and many more. All at a low price.
What journalists and the general public did not know was that Over the years, the “Queen of Waste” and her husband have had poor waste management that has caused disasters in Sweden.
The company left mountains of waste everywhere (even around nature reserves), without separating or recycling the contents.
As detailed BBC World Prosecutors in charge of the case have assured that This mismanagement by Think Pink has resulted in the release of “harmful levels of cancer-causing chemicals, lead, arsenic and mercury into the air, soil and water.”
And there was an incident where Waste the company dumped near a nature reserve burned for two full months after “spontaneous combustion”.
Nevertheless, Bella Nilsson and her lawyers have insisted they are not responsible that there was no irregularity in the company and that it acted in accordance with what the law says.
Despite this, prosecutors have assured that the company Think Pink “had neither the intention nor the capacity to manage waste in accordance with environmental legislation.”
And that’s it Behind their “success stories”, the way they disposed of waste endangered “the health of humans, animals and plants”.
In 2020, when Nilsson was arrested, the company filed for bankruptcy.
Since then, The “Queen of Trash” insists she is innocent and instead the victim of a conspiracy by her business competitors His lawyer, Jan Tibbling, told the local newspaper Daily News that the woman “has an explanation for all this.”
In the meantime, Her husband Thomas Nilsson is trying to distance himself: The man’s lawyer claimed that because he was executive director before 2015, he was not in charge when the environmental crimes were committed.
However, the essay explores several aspects: according to BBC WorldThe preliminary investigation totals 45,000 pages and prosecutor Anders Gustafsson assured that in addition to the mismanagement of waste, the accused allegedly used false documents to deceive the authorities. and then use this money for private purposes.
That’s why The “Queen of Waste” is also under investigation for alleged financial crimes: according to Swedish TV channel TV4, When police searched the woman’s apartment, they found expensive shoes and handbags.
Swedish authorities suspect that Nilsson misused company funds for vacation trips, luxury goods and even to pay at least 1,000 restaurant bills and spend more than $97,000 on clothing.
Considering this, Some Swedish municipalities have asked for compensation of 25.4 million dollars to clean up the mountains of garbage, but also to be able to decontaminate the affected areas.
“It is the next generations who will pay for this crime” assured prosecutor Linda Schon to the news agency AFP after the first day of hearing where the woman received the charges.
He also did not rule out the possibility that there are more sites where waste is buried or dumped, but “we believe that 21 sites are enough to demonstrate that the crimes were systematic.”
Source: Latercera
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
