A Danish couple who fled their “forest resort” in Sweden for Guatemala and left behind a big tax debt and 158 barrels of human waste have hit again at criticism and claimed that their dealing with of the compost bogs was “very regular”.
Flemming Hansen and Mette Helbæk, each cooks, deserted their purportedly eco-friendly retreat, Stedsans, in Halland, southern Sweden, final yr. They owed giant sums to Swedish and Danish tax authorities. They’ve since arrange a enterprise in Guatemala.
The story behind their disappearance and the deserted human waste was revealed this week after an investigation by the newspapers Politiken and Dagens Nyheter. It additionally discovered that the couple had allowed wastewater to run into the forest and alleged that animals had died because of being left outdoors and that others had been deserted.
Hansen and Helbæk’s actions had been described by native authorities as “environmental crime”. Nonetheless, on Thursday, the couple claimed they had been performing lawfully.
Commenting on the barrels left behind from their compost bogs, they stated in a submit on social media: “For individuals in rural Sweden it’s a really regular factor.”
They added: “It’s additionally an important a part of the permaculture rules that you simply take care of your individual shit.”
The property’s new proprietor is conscious of the barrels they usually can be utilized for compost, they stated. “Half of them are prepared to make use of this spring, the opposite half is prepared in 1 yr, following the rules of Swedish legislation.”
However Daniel Helsing, the top of constructing and setting on the native authority, Hylte council, stated the couple didn’t comply with the required necessities for composting waste.
“There are a variety of necessities that it’s important to comply with they usually haven’t,” he stated. “Regular follow, when you would not have a water closet resolution, is that you’ve a accumulating service to your barrels that the native authorities in mainly each county in Sweden present. That may be the commonest resolution to dealing with bathroom waste if you’re not utilizing water closets.”
It’s attainable to compost bathroom waste nevertheless it must be carried out based on native authority directions, he stated. “You would need to report that you’re going to compost bathroom waste and that provides us because the native authority an opportunity to set out guidelines and tips for how one can do it.”
The Swedish Vacationer Affiliation stated it was unfamiliar with the strategies used at Stedsans. A spokesperson stated: “I’ve by no means heard something like that.”
Hansen and Helbæk accused the journalists behind the investigation of mendacity and of inflicting “our life’s largest (literal!) shitstorm”.
They added: “The article claims that now we have been damaging the native setting with our procedures at our permaculture resort and that now we have left animals to die. All these claims and a number of other others are false.”
Accusing the native authorities of being cowards, Hansen and Helbæk stated that Hylte council was conscious of their bogs. That they had, the couple stated, proven the bogs and procedures to authority representatives “a number of occasions”. “Both the municipality lies, or they haven’t carried out the work now we have paid them to do, which is to guarantee that all guidelines are adopted.”
Hylte council stated that they had not been paid to take care of waste and that they had been assessing whether or not it will be reported to police.
Hansen and Helbæk stated their firm had gone bankrupt and that that they had tax debt in Denmark that had “multiplied tenfold” due to curiosity and costs over a decade. To stop the debt from rising, they stated, they must pay Danish tax authorities – which they accused of being “cold-hearted” and “narcissistic” – greater than 50,000 DKK a month (£5,800), which they counsel they’re unable to.
Hansen beforehand stated they owed the Swedish tax company “over 7m” SEK (greater than £550,000).
Among the many causes they fled to Guatemala, they stated, was “to provide our household a second likelihood”. Describing it as their birthright, they added: “For those who see us as villains for making this alternative, we’re sorry.”
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