A new Energy from Waste facility could be built in Leeds after Leeds City Council announced that it has cut the list of bidders for its waste PFI contract to just two.

Both of the contenders have said that EfW will be their chosen method of dealing with the city’s residual waste.

The two shortlisted bidders are Aire Valley Environmental and Veolia Environmental Services Aurora.

Aire Valley Environmental, which is a consortium comprised of Kelda Water Services and Covanta Energy, proposes to construct a facility on part of the site of the existing Knostrop wastewater treatment works handling around 230,000 tonnes of Leeds’ waste every year.

Veolia’s proposal is to build a facility on the former wholesale market site on Pontefract Lane in Cross Green which will handle around 190,000 of the city’s waste per year.

Both bidders propose similar technologies, mechanically removing even more materials for recycling before burning the remaining waste to generate electricity to the national grid.

Details of the two shortlisted bidders will be presented to senior councillors when they are updated on the project this Friday.

Leeds City Council executive board member for environmental services James Monaghan said: “We are now at an important stage of the process to build this new waste treatment facility.

“Narrowing down the shortlist to the final two bidders is significant, because now we know what type of technology will be used and two possible sites.”

The council has already begun talking to residents and businesses about the proposals.