The UK Digital Waste Tracking Service, explained.

It is the UK government service that replaces paper waste paperwork with a single digital record of where waste goes. Every load is recorded against a unique Waste Tracking ID, so a movement can be followed from the site that produced it to the site that finally treated it. It is run by Defra on behalf of all four UK nations and is enforced by the Environment Agency, SEPA, Natural Resources Wales and DAERA.

In two phases. Phase 1 covers permitted and licensed sites that receive waste, and is mandatory from 1 October 2026 in England and Wales and from 1 January 2027 in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Phase 2 covers waste carriers, brokers, dealers, exempt waste operations and exporters, and is mandatory from October 2027 across the UK.

Almost always, but usually in Phase 2 rather than Phase 1. A skip-hire firm that only collects and carries waste falls under the October 2027 carrier mandate. A firm that also runs a permitted transfer station or tip is a receiving site as well, so it is caught by Phase 1 in October 2026 in England and Wales, or January 2027 in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The record must be complete by the end of the second working day after the day the waste was received. Waste received on a Monday morning must be filed before midnight on Wednesday. Weekends do not count. The duty is only discharged when the service returns a Waste Tracking ID — an attempted or rejected upload does not count as compliance.

Defra charges £26 a year per legal entity that creates or edits records. It is not charged per movement, per user, or per site, and it is payable on first use and then on each anniversary once the service is mandatory. Waste disposal authorities receiving household waste from domestic property, and people who are digitally excluded, are exempt from registering and from the fee.

In England the regulations set a fixed monetary penalty of £1,000, most likely for missing the two-working-day deadline, alongside variable monetary penalties with no upper limit, recovery of the regulator's investigation and legal costs, compliance notices and criminal prosecution. Scotland has its own civil penalty regime under SSI 2026/145, enforced by SEPA. The £5,000 per incident figure circulating in trade coverage does not appear in the England regulations.

Yes, for now. Paper waste transfer notes and hazardous waste consignment notes remain legally required alongside digital tracking in Phase 1 — the digital record is an additional duty, not yet a replacement. Over time the service is intended to replace transfer notes, consignment notes, season tickets and Annex VII forms, and the Duty of Care Code of Practice will be revised and consulted on before that happens.

There are three routes. You can key each load into Defra's own web service, upload a spreadsheet using the temporary bulk route that is expected to remain until at least October 2027, or connect software that files automatically through Defra's API. Sites receiving more than a handful of loads a day generally find manual entry unsustainable, because every load has to be filed within two working days.

Yes, for Phase 1. Fleetlix passed all 14 of Defra's production approval scenarios, Defra issued production credentials, and Fleetlix is listed on the GOV.UK page Report receipt of waste: choose a software provider. Check it yourself rather than taking our word for it — the entry reads Fleetlix Ltd, noted as formerly CN Design Ltd. Phase 2, the carrier leg that becomes mandatory in October 2027, is a separate Defra API that has not been published yet, so no provider is approved for it.

You need to register your own organisation for Report receipt of waste on GOV.UK and pay the £26 fee — a software provider cannot register or pay on your behalf. Registering gives you an API code for each permitted receiving site, which you then give to your software. You will also need your permit or licence number, and your carriers' registration numbers.