Digital waste tracking from 1 October 2026
From 1 October 2026, every load received at a permitted or licensed waste site in England and Wales must be recorded in the government's Digital Waste Tracking Service within two working days.
Same weighbridge, same gate routine, with a digital receipt record added alongside the paperwork that continues until further notice. The work is mostly getting your data straight once so the daily recording is quick.
Who has to record what, and when
Three dates matter. Only one of them is the one most carriers think applies to them.
Permitted and licensed waste receiving sites must record every load they receive in the Digital Waste Tracking Service. This is in law, not consultation.
Current Scottish and Northern Irish regulator guidance says receiving sites follow three months later.
Phase 2 is planned, not yet in statute. Carrier preparation still matters from October 2026: a permitted site needs enough correct information to record the load, so lapsed registration or poor waste information can delay or prevent acceptance.
Key rules from October 2026
- Within 2 working daysEach movement has to be recorded in the service within two working days of it happening.
- £26 a yearAnnual service registration fee for each legal entity that creates or edits records. It is not a per-site charge.
- Using a software provider?Defra publishes providers whose products have passed its Production Approval Tests. Check the product you use is listed.
- Phase 1 scopePermitted and licensed receiving sites. Sites operating under a waste exemption come in a later phase.
- No new carrier numberSites record the carrier by its existing carrier registration number. Carriers cannot enrol in the service themselves yet.
- Defra helplineDigital waste tracking software helpline 03000 203781. Check the current GOV.UK guidance for opening hours.
Site, carrier or producer: what October means for you
If you run a receiving site
Transfer stations, treatment and recycling sites, scrap yards, landfill, quarries and restoration sites taking inert material. From 1 October 2026 you record every incoming load. This is the statutory phase.
If you produce waste
Your own phase comes later. Expect your carriers and sites to start asking for tidier information from October, because they now have to record it.
If you're a carrier, broker or dealer
You have no statutory duty until the planned 2027 phase, and "ready" for you in 2026 does not mean buying software. It means the sites you tip at can record your load from the first day: your registration live and matching what the Environment Agency holds, the right waste code and description, weights, vehicle registration. Get any of it wrong and the load can be paused at the gate.
Defra plans to bring carriers into the service in testing stages ahead of the planned October 2027 date; the operators who use that year will be the ones already working digitally when it lands.
What gets a load paused at the gate
Most paperwork problems come back to four things. Under digital tracking each one is either caught at entry or shows up as a gap in the record Defra holds.
Details that don't match the register
Trading names, old addresses, a missing or wrong carrier registration number. The site can't record what it can't match.
Digital: the carrier is pulled from the public register, with its registration status shown.
Vague descriptions and wrong codes
"Mixed waste" or "rubbish" tells the site nothing about what's on the vehicle, and the wrong six-digit code can send a load to the wrong place.
Digital: search by code or plain description, with the official wording shown alongside.
Missing weights, dates and paper signatures
A blank weight, an unsigned transfer note or a date that does not match the booking can all cause trouble at the gate.
Digital: complete the required receipt fields, including quantity and date and time received. Existing paper notes still need the signatures that apply to them.
Records in five places
Cabs, spreadsheets, inboxes and filing cabinets. When the regulator asks for two years of notes, someone has to find them.
Digital: keep the Defra tracking reference, paper-note reference and weighbridge-ticket reference together, then test that staff can retrieve the evidence.
Watch a load being received and recorded
Site, waste, transporter, destination, confirm. The record goes to Defra and the reference comes back. This is the whole thing.
Demonstration account with sample data. Each step is written out here for your gatehouse and office staff.
Our Defra-approved route
We use specialist, Defra-integrated software and we set you up on it. It fits round the way your site already works rather than making you change it, and the record goes straight to Defra with the tracking reference coming back to the load.
Capture
Record the required receipt details as part of the gate or office routine, no later than the statutory deadline.
Verify
Check the carrier registration, site permit and waste code before submission. The software route can assist with structured fields and lookups, but the operator remains responsible for the facts.
Submit
The record goes to Defra's service and comes back with a tracking reference. If it later needs correcting, update the existing record using that reference; the service retains its change history.
Find it again
Keep the Defra tracking reference with your paper-note and weighbridge-ticket references so the movement evidence can be retrieved later.
Browser-based, tested in your own workflow
The route shown in the current IWS demonstration runs in a web browser alongside an existing weighbridge or office process. Use the trial to test the devices, browsers and staff workflow your own sites will actually use.
Checked before it goes
The demonstration shows carrier details being looked up by registration number and waste descriptions selected by code. IWS checks registrations, permits and regular waste streams during set-up; the operator remains responsible for verifying authorisation and the data submitted.
Weight, references and returns
Weighed it? Record the actual weight. No weighbridge? Record a defensible estimated weight, mark it as estimated and agree how your site will calculate it. The demonstration also shows paper transfer-note and weighbridge-ticket references stored with the movement and a Defra tracking reference returned after submission. Confirm any reporting or export needs during the trial.
Free trial ahead of the deadline
A free software trial is currently available so you can test real workflows before October. The IWS readiness review and data clean-up are separate; scope and charges are set out in writing before you commit.
Want to see the approval for yourself? Defra keeps a public list of approved software providers. Ask and we'll send you the reference so you can check it independently.
The record moves. The duty doesn't.
Most of the information is what's on the paper transfer note today: what the waste is, how much, who brought it, where it came from and where it's going. What changes is that the receiving site makes that record digitally, it goes to Defra, and a tracking reference comes back.
Everything underneath stays as it was. Your duty of care, the six-digit waste code and description, the carrier's registration, the weighbridge, your permit conditions. None of that is replaced. It's recorded in a different place.
Inside the deadline, checked before it drifts
The receipt record is due by the end of the second working day after the load arrives. If the service reports an error that prevents the original record, correct it within that same deadline; other errors must be corrected as soon as practicable and no later than one month after you become aware of them.
The part that usually catches sites out isn't the day-to-day recording. It's everything sitting in spreadsheets, inboxes and cabs across more than one process or site. When a permit renewal date lives in someone's inbox instead of one place, it lapses before anyone notices.
Compliance first, software second
Software records the load. It doesn't tell you whether your permit, your waste codes and your paperwork are right in the first place. That's our side of it, and it's what you still need whichever software ends up at your gate.
Readiness review
Where you stand against 1 October 2026: what your current process already covers, what doesn't yet exist, and what the regulator will expect to see. Short, written, and yours to keep whatever you decide to do next.
Data clean-up
The waste codes and standard descriptions for the streams you take regularly, your permit and licence details as the Environment Agency holds them, the registration numbers of the carriers who deliver to you. Getting these right once is what makes the daily recording quick.
Set-up and walk-through
We set your sites up on the route, run the first loads through with you, and walk your weighbridge, gatehouse and office staff through what they'll see, using your own loads rather than sample data.
Keeping it right
Permit renewals, changes in the streams you accept, Environment Agency correspondence, and the questions the digital record throws up once you're live. Multi-disciplined compliance teams, on the end of a phone.
IWS is itself a registered waste carrier, broker and dealer (CBDU648262). We work under the same rules we set you up for.
Straight answers
Will we need new hardware or anything installed?
The current IWS demonstration is browser-based and does not show a local installation. Test the exact devices, browser versions, data connection and staff routine you intend to use before deciding whether any equipment or process change is needed.
What happens if the gatehouse loses signal, or Defra's service is down?
Local connectivity trouble does not move the normal deadline: keep the required details and submit the receipt record by the end of the second working day. During a Digital Waste Tracking Service outage, make the written record within two working days and transfer it into the service within seven working days after the outage is resolved.
Our weighbridge supplier says they'll handle digital tracking. Do we still need you?
You may not need another recording route if your supplier's integration is ready and tested. IWS can still review the codes, permits, registrations and duty-of-care routine behind it. If you compare routes, test a real load and confirm what is entered once, what must be re-keyed and who owns corrections and outages.
What does the free trial include?
A free software trial is currently offered. Its duration, scope and whether you use test or live load data must be confirmed in writing before it starts. Our readiness review and data clean-up are separate; we set out what is included and charged before you commit.
Isn't there a spreadsheet option?
Defra currently expects an interim spreadsheet submission route to remain available until at least October 2027, subject to review. It is a way of submitting, not a delay to the duty: the record is still due within two working days from 1 October 2026. A spreadsheet does not by itself provide the same workflow checks and lookups as specialist software, so test it against your volume and control needs.
Can't we just type each load into Defra's own web portal?
You can use Defra's own route, and it may suit a low-volume site. Test it with representative loads before deciding: compare the time, validation and correction process with your current routine and any software option.
We haven't got a weighbridge. Can we still comply?
Yes. The regulations accept an estimated weight where an actual one isn't available. On our route, container type and fill level are converted to an estimated tonnage using the Environment Agency's own factors for that waste code, and the record is flagged as an estimate when it goes to Defra.
What if a record needs correcting after it's been sent?
Use the tracking reference to correct the existing record. Correct errors as soon as practicable and within one month of becoming aware of them. If an error prevents the original receipt record being accepted, fix it within the original two-working-day deadline. The service keeps a history of changes.
What about hazardous waste?
Phase 1 covers receiving sites recording hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Consignment-note paperwork continues until further notice. The digital record requires hazardous components and concentration values; if a concentration is unavailable, record why it cannot be provided.
We're a carrier, not a site. Why does October 2026 matter to us?
Because the sites you tip at have to record your load from that date and need enough correct information to do it. If your registration has lapsed, or the details you give don't match what the Environment Agency holds, the load may be paused or refused. Your own statutory date is planned for October 2027, but your effective one is the same as the site's.
How do we know the software is Defra-approved?
Defra publishes its list of software providers that have passed its Production Approval Tests. Ask us and we'll send you the government reference so you can check it yourself rather than take our word for it.
What does it cost?
Defra's service registration fee is currently £26 a year for each legal entity that creates or edits records. Software-provider charges and any IWS review or clean-up work are separate. A free software trial is currently available; ask us for the current scope and written charges before you commit.
Where do you stand for 1 October 2026?
Tell us your organisation, the site and a telephone number. We'll come back with a straight view of what you already have covered and what needs doing.
Email us about your site Call 0114 244 2640
We may hold your business contact details for compliance and marketing purposes. How we use your data.
Page last reviewed 5 September 2026.