The £1bn battle to deal with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of South West London’s household rubbish has come down to its final two bidders.

Viridor and the Waste Recycling Group will now go head-to-head to persaude Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Kingston they have the best solution for 200,000 tonnes of waste produced in the boroughs each year.

The four boroughs, which form the South London Waste Partnership(SLWP), hope to announce the winning bid early next year.

Strict rules mean that the councils must keep details of each bid confidential while the procurement process is ongoing, although the companies themselves are free to release details of their solutions.

The SLWP was forced into action to deal with the extra waste to cope with ever increasing costs of sending rubbish to landfill, which stands at £56 a tonne and increases by £8 per tonne each year.

Councillor Phil Thomas, cabinet member for environment and highways, said: “This partnership approach is set to deliver substantial improvements to Croydon’s waste management system and we’re looking forward to receiving the bidders’ final proposals later this year.”

Any new facilities are expected to be operational by spring 2014.