UK based waste treatment company New Earth Solutions has been selected as the preferred bidder for Scottish Borders council's £80m waste management contract.

The 24-year contract, scheduled to be signed shortly, entails the development of a new residual waste treatment facility, as well as the processing of mixed dry recyclables and composting of green waste.

The service will cover around 65,000 tonnes of waste each year, of which 45,000 tonnes will be treated using New Earth’s mechanical biological treatment technology in a new facility at the Council’s Easter Langlee site in Galashiels.

New Earth will be responsible for the processing of the Council’s mixed dry recyclables and green waste from April and the residual waste treatment facility is due to be operational from October 2012.

The contract will also include the provision of green energy using New Earth’s Advanced Thermal Conversion technology to generate 3MW of low-carbon renewable electricity and heat.

SBC Environmental Services executive member Cllr Len Wyse said that the proposed facility will use leading technology to divert a majority of collected household waste from landfill and thereby minimize the future costs to SBC for dealing with waste.