The defendants were suspected of having disguised tens of tonnes of waste from the construction industry for several years for a loot of one million euros.
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An extraordinary trial opens this Monday, and for one week before the Lille judicial court. Ten defendants are being prosecuted for international waste trafficking between Belgium and France. To pass waste from construction work between the two countries, the defendants disguised the cargo for several years.
Initially, the maneuver consisted of deceiving the large processing groups, such as Suez and Veolia, explains Anne Roques, lawyer at France Nature environment and civil party at the hearing. “They produced false papers to say, for example, ‘This is such a quantity of waste’, and, ultimately, we ended up with mixtures of construction waste and household waste, but in much larger proportions.“, she explains.
“At the beginning, companies like Suez and Véolia did not necessarily understand. Little by little, after a few months, they felt that there were problems: they refused these trucks.” specifies Anne Roques to franceinfo.
Several French regions targeted
The traffickers then used a plan B. They emptied their trucks from Belgium into the wild in three French regions. In Rédange, for example, in Moselle, some 250 tonnes of household waste were dumped in a former quarry.
For four years, the mayor of the town, Daniel Cimarelli, has felt very alone, “because it takes money to get rid of it”, says the chosen one. “At one point, the Belgians said ‘we’re going to come and clean up’, but when they saw the extent of the damage, because it’s not just in Rédange, they gave up straight away.“, regrets the mayor with bitterness.
At stake in the trial will be who is now responsible for this waste. According to the investigation, the trafficking involved 10,000 tonnes and brought in the sum of one million euros.