In Kagghamra in Botkyrka outside Stockholm, Think Pink’s rubbish pile is still there. Now covered in sand after the big fire four years ago.
About five hundred meters from the waste pile, Eva and Willy Nowak live. When the fire was at its worst, the lead level in their well rose so sharply that the water was undrinkable.
– I was so angry at times that I thought I was going to have a brain haemorrhage, says Eva Nowak.
Sampling showed that the lead levels in their water were ten times above the limit. The couple could only use tap water for showering and washing.
– We had to buy water and carry cans home, says Willy Nowak.
Even more expensive
How much cleanup of the waste heap in Kagghamra will cost is still unknown today. In Kassmyra in the same municipality there was another one of Think Pink’s rubbish heaps. Taking care of it cost Botkyrka 160 million kroner. Of that sum, the Environmental Protection Agency contributed 40 million. The mound in Kagghamra is larger and will likely therefore be even more expensive to manage.
The prosecutor Anders Gustafsson tells TV4 Nyheterna that the total damages claims that will be directed at the district court against the defendants behind Think Pink are SEK 262 million. However, not all fifteen affected municipalities have applied for compensation. Botkyrka, Västerås and Laxå, as well as the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, are behind the majority of the claims for damages.
All eleven defendants deny wrongdoing. There are decisions to freeze the assets of the six main defendants in so-called seizure. But there is a great risk that much of the cost of cleaning up the waste will ultimately end up on the taxpayers in the municipalities where the waste has been dumped.
– It will be a future issue for the Bailiff if damages should be awarded. We have a lien of SEK 250 million, but what is actually secured is nowhere near that sum, says prosecutor Anders Gustafsson.
Can drink again
After cleaning their well, the Nowak couple can now drink the tap water at home again. The contamination does not appear to have entered the groundwater.
During five years, Think Pink is suspected of having dumped upwards of 200,000 tonnes of waste around Central Sweden. Eva and Willy Nowak are disappointed that the suspected environmental scandal was not stopped earlier.
– I think it is horrible with all the authorities that have not acted and let the villains run wild. You have to challenge Olle in the gate. It is not possible to just wait until the disaster is a fact, says Eva Nowak.