Six companies will be invited to bid for a multi-million pound waste

contract that has yet to be approved by councillors.

The firms will tender for the controversial private finance initiative contract to process waste in Brighton and Hove and East Sussex.

The contract, being drawn up jointly by East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove Council, is estimated to be worth £1 billion over 20 years, according to the councils.

But it could be worth a good deal more if the deal is extended to 30 or 40 years as tendering documents suggest it might.

The six companies are Biffa Waste Services, Onyx Aurora, Sita (GB), United Waste Services, Viridor Waste Management, and the Waste Recycling Group.

The shortlist announcement masks a bitter disagreement between the councils over the direction the plans are taking.

East Sussex County Council will vote in two weeks on whether to abandon the original site-specific plan and adopt a so-called criteria-based approach, which has already been backed by its ruling cabinet.

The new approach would leave it up to the successful bidder rather than councillors to choose where to build incinerators, recycling centres and other waste facilities.

Brighton and Hove Council described the move as "plain daft".