Millions of liters of feces from major festivals such as Paaspop and Intents Festival have been illegally dumped in Wintelre for years. Pig manure has also been discharged. A criminal investigation has been launched into entrepreneur Pierre Daas and companies he is involved with.
This is evident from documents requested from several governments and from conversations between Omroep Brabant with several sources. Daas is said to be guilty of, among other things, fertilizer fraud and economic crimes, such as the illegal discharge of waste water. A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service cannot confirm or deny that an investigation is underway.
Container
Tank trucks full of feces arrive at Daas’s company in Wintelre. Millions of liters of feces and wastewater from large festivals are transferred to a container using hoses. Another hose comes from this container, which ends in an illegal connection to the sewer.
In addition to discharging wastewater from events, these illegal connections are also used to dump pig manure. This becomes clear from a report drawn up by the municipality of Eersel, which includes Wintelre. It contains photos of the container.
Denial
According to Daas, there are no illegal discharges. “Manure is disposed of in accordance with manure legislation and all discharges are registered, reported and compensation for discharge is paid in accordance with agreements,” he says when asked.
Documents from the municipality of Eersel show that almost nine million liters of wastewater were discharged at this location in 2023, without permission. That’s more than three Olympic swimming pools full. The municipality took action against this, after which the container was removed.
Easter doll and Black Cross
The company Volume Rental from Gilze collects waste water from major events in the Netherlands and Belgium, such as Paaspop, Intents Festival, Concert at Sea, Zwarte Cross and Graspop. This is delivered to the Daas site in Wintelre.
It is not clear whether Volume Rental employees are aware that this waste water is not being processed correctly. However, the company is mentioned repeatedly in the documents.
Volume Rental did not respond to questions from Omroep Brabant.
Drug bags
Wastewater cannot simply enter the sewer. In addition to human feces, it also contains waste such as sunglasses, textiles and drug bags. By dumping it in the sewer, no tax is paid on it and competitors who do process it properly are disadvantaged. Various government organizations are investigating whether an economic offense has occurred.
Omroep Brabant has told Daas that he is under criminal investigation, but it seems that he does not fully realize this yet. In a telephone conversation he says: “I’m not worried about this. We just paid taxes and settled this neatly. It’s just right.”
Manure fraud and dead trees
Daas’s company is regularly in the news because it violates environmental regulations. This summer, for example, it became clear that trees and crops on a plot of land in Eindhoven have died because a manure bag from Daas’ company started leaking. As a result, an estimated 180,000 liters of wastewater ended up in the ground.
The company was also guilty of fertilizer fraud and forgery before. It was convicted by the judge for this.
Nuisance
In Wintelre there were problems with the sewerage system for a long time. These were caused by caked animal manure and wastewater, the documents show. Officials write that this is “very likely as a result of the activities of [Daas – red.].”
The problems with the sewerage caused nuisance in the area. “We have been experiencing nuisance from odors through the sewer for years,” a local resident wrote to the municipality in November 2023. “This nuisance is caused by the fact that a few houses further away, truck loads are dumped into the sewer almost every day. We have reported this several times, but Mr Daas is not impressed by it,” said the local resident. Daas himself does not want to answer questions about this.
In response to press questions about this, the municipality is less certain than its own officials earlier in the documents. The municipality says that there have been several blockages, but “it cannot be determined with certainty that these come from Daas”. There would have been no more blockages or other nuisance in the past year.
Public Prosecution Service
It is not yet known whether the criminal investigation will actually lead to a prosecution. It is also not known when a decision will be made on this. The Public Prosecution Service does not want to say anything about this either.
The festivals mentioned have been approached about this publication, but have not yet responded.
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