MERSEYSIDE’S rubbish mountain is to be transported to either Cheshire or the North East for incineration, the Daily Post can reveal.

The move will end the need for a new incinerator for municipal waste here on Merseyside after strong opposition from every local council.

Recycling and waste management firm SITA is to submit a planning application for a rail waste transfer station at Knowsley Industrial Estate, in Kirkby.

It is one of two companies bidding to secure a 30-year contract to treat Merseyside and Halton’s waste that cannot be recycled to avoid it ending up in landfill.

Covanta, the other company in the running, plans to burn waste at a facility in Ince Marsh, Cheshire.

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA), which is overseeing the huge contract, has struggled to find any local authorities willing to consider an incinerator on their land.

Burning waste in the North East or Cheshire offers a convenient solution.

SITA wants to transport Merseyside’s waste to a planned energy-from-waste facility in Wilton, near Middlesbrough in Teesside.

At this facility, non-recycled waste will be burned to produce energy, avoiding it going to landfill.

The transfer station, which would create 30 new jobs, would enable up to 500,000 tonnes of residual waste a year to be transported via rail, significantly reducing the amount of vehicles on the roads. SITA wants to use a site currently operating as a rail freight transfer station by the Potter Group.