About 300 people marched through Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, on Saturday in protest against plans for eight new waste treatment facilities within 10 miles of the town.
These include proposed landfills at Anniskinnan and Broadford, a builders' rubble facility on the Killucan road, a large composting facility in Milltownpass, and plans by Lagan Cement in Kinnegad and Edenderry Power to incinerate meat-and-bone meal.
The march was organised by a new umbrella group called Madd, (Midlands Against Dirty Developments), which represents committee members from the eight campaign groups fighting the applications. The slogan for the day was "Be Madd in Kinnegad".
In a joint statement, the organisers said they were determined to stop it becoming a "national dumping ground" - facilitated by the imminent completion of the new N4/N6 bypass, which they fear is being used to "get as many waste developments as possible" into the area.
Though the motorway, due to open in December, would take Dublin-bound traffic away from Kinnegad, the protest group believes the area is not being bypassed for Dublin's waste; one of the facilities being planned is a large composter for organic waste from city hotels.
"The reason for such a huge interest in the waste business seems to be the fact that many counties have now handed over waste contracts to private companies and the high profits currently available for disposing waste means the interest is considerable," the group said.
According to the protesters, Kinnegad's case is not helped by the fact that the counties of Westmeath, Meath, Offaly and Kildare all meet within a few miles of the town, which effectively means that four different local authorities are adjudicating on the planning applications.
"If they were all granted Kinnegad could become the waste capital of Ireland," they warned. Other surrounding areas like Killucan, Raharney, Milltownpass, Edenderry, Ballinbrackey, Broadford, Longwood and Carburry "could also be deeply affected".
Spokesman Martin Plunkett said this was the main reason why the eight campaign groups had come together.
"There's strength in numbers, and our rally in Kinnegad showed that people here are very angry and we're going to fight this all the way."
Though everyone agreed the new motorway would be "a godsend" in traffic terms, Mr Plunkett said people feared it would leave Kinnegad "vulnerable to convoys of dump trucks".
