Meath groups unite against major waste plans

Residents of east Meath are campaigning against plans for four major developments. Each of these raises significant environmental issues, they maintain. The developments include a waste incinerator, a power plant, a cement factory and a "superdump"- a 60-acre landfill capable of taking 180,000 tonnes of waste each year. They are all located within a five square mile radius of Duleek.

Three of the developments are proposed for about halfway between Duleek and Drogheda in the townlands of Carranstown/Plantin. The fourth, the superdump, is planned for a site off the N2.

Locals claim that such a concentration of plants, which have recognised environmental safety considerations, is an undue burden to place on any community. As well as the safety considerations of living close to incinerators, power plants and cement factories, locals say the area would be adversely affected, as would the marketing of beef and dairy produce.

While locals have campaigned against each plant in the past, the lodging of a planning application in recent days with Meath County Council for the Indaver incineration plant at Carranstown appears to have given renewed impetus to the campaign.

The incinerator is planned for a 10.12 hectare site with a 40 metre high tower, and associated buildings. It is literally yards from the proposed cement factory at Plantin and opposite the site chosen for a proposed new power plant. While there are separate health issues in relation to the power plant and the cement factory, for Mr Paddy Lawlor, a dairy farmer, the prospect of a superdump in the region's "bread basket" is one which fills him with horror.

Mr Lawlor farms 350 acres in the immediate area of the dump and says his farm will also be affected by the incinerator. He maintains that there is evidence of major international dairy firms refusing to buy supplies of milk from areas which are within 40 km of an incinerator, such is the fear of dioxins which are created in incinerators. The dioxins are also of concern to Mr Fergal Duff, a former United Nations environmental expert who now resides in Meath. Mr Duff says the incineration and landfill methods of waste disposal, as well as being environmentally detrimental, encourage a sloppy attitude towards waste management. Incineration is economically the most expensive long-term, he argues, and points out that incinerators need a constant supply to keep them going, a factor which works against efforts to reduce waste. According to the Boyne Valley and Newgrange Environmental Protection League, the question posed by all four projects is how to deal with environmental issues so as to lessen the damage to natural resources.

The group says it is clear that the Meath Waste Plan concedes that the region will fail in its responsibilities on waste prevention, minimisation and reduction as it plans for an increase in overall tonnage from current levels.

It points out that Ireland is currently before the European Court in Luxembourg for infringement proceedings on incorrect application of EU directives on Environment Impact Assessment, Dangerous Substances, Freshwater Fish, and three waste directives. "This makes the north east the waste capital of Ireland, with Meath at its centre", argued the group. "We believe that Ireland can quickly move from being one of the dirtiest nations in Europe to being a leader in clean waste technology. Instead of organising systems that efficiently dispose of our recycled waste, we need to design systems of production that have little or no waste to begin with."