It was almost the new year when Jens Schou Andersen (67) from the Danish village of Ølst saw masses of earth sliding from the hill towards his house. A brown mass of ground moved downward at a rate of nine meters per day, engulfing several business premises and a road. “I thought: what on earth is happening here? Every day I went to see how far it had moved. I was told that if no one intervened, my house would be buried under a five-metre-high layer of earth.”
The landslide was caused by soil remediation company Nordic Waste, which stored and cleaned contaminated soil in a higher clay quarry. “We give the earth new life,” was the company slogan. Things turned out differently. In December the ground waste started to shift. According to the company, this was due to heavy rainfall, but research by the Danish geological institute Geus showed that the mass had been moving for much longer.
The ground also appeared to be far from cleansed. For example, researchers found oil and heavy metals in the earth. According to the Danish Patient Safety Authority, groundwater is so contaminated that exposure to it poses an acute health risk. Contact may cause skin reactions and serious eye damage. The Danish environment minister warned of a ‘catastrophe’ if the contaminated soil ended up in the nearby Alling Å river.
The question is who will pay for cleaning up this environmental disaster.
Legally responsible
When it became apparent in January that stopping and cleaning up the toxic mountain would cost 300 million euros, Nordic Waste filed for bankruptcy. “The landslide has become so large that we can no longer handle it,” the company said. The bankruptcy has made it unlikely that the company will pay all costs, because there is probably less than 300 million in the company’s treasury and there are several creditors.
That caused national outrage, especially because the company is owned by multi-billionaire Torben Østergaard-Nielsen, who made a fortune trading in fuel for ships. Last month, the Danish public prosecutor said that sister company DSH Recycling A/S, which owns the land where Nordic Waste operated, is also legally liable. Perhaps the polluter will still pay.
Due to the intervention of the municipality of Randers and the state, which advanced 27 million euros, the acute threat has now been resolved. The river has been diverted and enormous amounts of earth have been moved. The groundwater is collected in basins and cleaned at a later time.
The municipality, which granted the permit, has submitted 16 million euros in invoices for the remediation costs to the curator – an amount that is quickly increasing. The hope is that the money will find its way back into the municipal treasury. The Danish environment minister said last week that the state will no longer contribute, which threatens Randers with a financial threat.
Illegal dumping
The municipal council has also filed a report for violating the permit conditions. Former employees already told the Danish public broadcaster DR that the heavily contaminated soil did not go into the treatment plant, but disappeared into a hole in the ground.
In addition, the company appeared to have lied about agreements with subcontractors who would clean groundwater. It is unclear what happened to that water. “We discover more every day. If we find more violations, we will report it again,” said municipal spokesperson Karen Balling Radmer.
Andersen, who has an electrical installation company, is concerned about his health, he says over the phone. “The trucks that delivered the contaminated soil drove through the village for five years. Each time it involved a lot of dust and I’m sure we inhaled it. Could we get sick at any moment?”
The Dane has lived in Ølst, where there are 42 houses, for 35 years. “This was once known as a beautiful place to live, near hills and the river. We also have a lot of forest nearby. A wonderful base for people working in Aarhus or Randers. But who would ever want to live here again?”
The residents watched the soil remediation activities with dismay, says Andersen. As early as 2019, he sent an email to the municipality to convey his concerns about waste transport. He got no answer. “Villagers who worked at Nordic Waste said that if more dirty soil was added, things would go wrong. I know some have also warned the municipality.”
Role of the municipality
Spokesman Radmer says that the municipality has started working on every complaint. It is quite possible that Andersen did not receive a response to his email, she says, letter writers do not receive a response as standard.
Andersen sees the municipality as partly responsible for the scandal. “It is their job to check whether the company is following the rules. But I have the feeling they only brought coffee.”
The municipality contradicts that. Officials are said to have visited the company ten times in 2023 alone to take stock. In doing so, Randers says he has complied with the law, which requires the supervisor to check whether the company complies with the licensing requirements by checking and asking questions.
According to Ole Windahl Pedersen, professor of environmental law at Aarhus University, it is still too early to judge. However, he confirms that the supervisory system in Denmark – and many other European countries – is based on trust and cooperation with the license holder. “If one of the parties is not honest, supervision becomes difficult.”
An alternative is for municipalities to deploy specialized inspectors to supervise. But that is expensive and that knowledge now mainly resides with the industry, says Pedersen. “There are people who say that this system is too friendly towards the industry. That question is certainly raised by this drama with Nordic Waste.”
It is unclear whether residents will be compensated for the loss of value of their homes. Andersen: “I was once proud to live in Ølst, but not anymore. Moving is no longer an option. How can I ever sell my house in this condition?”
Tags: give earth life voice Danish waste mountain turned differently
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