Sweden’s ‘Queen of Trash’ on trial for dumping mountains of waste

Entering Attunda district court north of Stockholm, Ms Nilsson refused to answer reporters’ questions.

Prosecutors said the way the company mismanaged the waste led to harmful levels of carcinogenic chemicals, lead, arsenic and mercury being released into the air, soil and water.

In one incident, a Think Pink waste pile close to a nature reserve burned for two months after spontaneously combusting.

Ms Nilsson has previously told Swedish media that her company acted in line with the law.

Prosecutors said that NMT Think Pink – which went bankrupt in 2020 when Bella Nilsson was arrested – had “no intention or ability to handle [the waste] in line with environmental legislation”.

The way the rubbish was discarded at the sites endangered the “health of humans, animals and plant life”, they added.

Think Pink was hired by building companies, municipalities and private individuals, to dispose of everything from building materials, electronics, metals, plastics, wood, tyres and toys. But it left the piles “unsorted” and abandoned, according to prosecutors.

All 11 defendants have denied wrongdoing. They include Bella Nilsson’s ex husband Thomas Nilsson, whose lawyer said that as chief executive before 2015 he had was not in charge when the offences were committed.