Canterbury City Council has today announced it has awarded a £40m waste contract to Serco - nearly two weeks after the Kentish Gazette first revealed who would be emptying bins in the district.

It follows months of controversy because the authority was also considering a bid by Veolia which prompted objections by protestors who claimed the company was operating illegally on the West Bank in Palestine.

The council chose the contractor 10 days ago but says it could not publicly reveal which one until the deadline for a challenge by the other bidders had passed.

It will be introducing a new waste collection system from April 2013, which will include fortnightly doorstep collection of glass for the first time and a return to weekly collections of food waste.

Detailed work will now take place with Serco on the implementation of the project in areas such as the size and type of wheelie bins or boxes that residents will be provided with, roll out dates and a comprehensive publicity campaign.

Head of Neighbourhood Services, Larissa Laing, said: “This is one of our most high profile contracts providing essential services to our residents. The tender process has allowed us to create a high quality service while achieving excellent value for money for taxpayers.

“We now have a lot of work to do on getting the new waste collection system ready. There are plenty of benefits to residents, such as doorstep collection of glass and weekly collections of food waste, and we will be working hard in the coming months to make sure it’s a success.”

Other new environmental contracts still to be awarded are grounds maintenance, public toilets, building maintenance and office cleaning.

Serco continues to hold the contract for these until the end of March 2013, but the council has taken the decision to split them into four smaller contracts from April 1 2013 in order to achieve the best value for money.