Serco will empty the district's bins for the next eight years after winning the council's £40m waste contract, the Gazette can exclusively reveal.

Sources have confirmed the firm will continue its current operation of the service – but will also have to handle the complex six-bin system which will hit households in April.

The council’s tendering process for the contract has been shrouded in secrecy and members were not told the names of the three firms bidding for it until last Thursday’s meeting of the executive.

Then the firm called ‘bidder 2’ was chosen as the waste operator.

But councillors were ordered not to reveal its identity before an official public announcement is made in the coming days.

The three companies which bid were French firm Veolia, an as yet unidentified firm, and Serco, which has a depot in Kingsmead.

Controversy had surrounded the Veolia bid because of its activities in Israel, where it has built a light railway system through occupied territories near Jerusalem.

The council consequently spent £6,000 on legal advice to see if Veolia was allowed to tender for the contract - in the end deciding it was.

Richard Stainton is among those who opposed Veolia’s bid.

He said: “If Veolia does not win the contract it will, of course, be welcome that a company which is supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories is not at the same time collecting waste in Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay.”

The council says there must be a five-day call-in period when the decision can be reviewed and a 10-day ‘standstill’ period when the unsuccessful bidders can mount challenges to the decision before formally identifying the winning contractor.

Larissa Laing, the council’s head of neighbourhood services, said: “The tender documentation to which the council was legally bound specified that the council should not release the names of the bidders to anybody outside the council.

“Therefore, the council has been legally obliged to follow this, otherwise it would have been in breach of the contractual arrangement with the people who had submitted the bids.”

Martin Curtois, Veolia environmental services manager, said: "We respect the council's decision and believe due process was observed in relation to this contract."