Digital Waste Tracking FAQs

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DEFRA are introducing mandatory digital waste tracking (DWT) for all permitted waste receiving facilities from October 2026 (January 2027 for Scotland).

All sites need to register with DEFRA for DWT - MyWastetracker can support you with this. 

Waste carriers (as opposed to waste receivers) are required to comply with the legislation by October 2027.  The delay between the two sectors is to allow the waste industry time to adapt and comply with the digital requirements.

If you are an operator of a permitted or licenced waste receiving site in England and Wales then yes you need to comply with the new digital waste tracking legislation from 1st October 2026. 

This includes the following waste sites:

• Waste treatment and recovery facilities
• Recycling facilities and Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs)
• Permitted waste transfer stations
• Landfills and incineration/energy-from-waste plants
• Permitted storage facilities
• Permitted mobile plant deployments (receiving waste)
• Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) (those handling commercial waste deposits).

Further information about what happens (e.g. penalties) if you don't take any action by 1st October in this article - Do I have to comply with waste tracking. 

Waste receiving facilities will be required to digitally submit details of every load received. 

Including:

· Waste types – with the correct EWC code

· Weight

· Disposal / recovery codes

· Container type and quantity

· PoPs codes and components (if applicable)

· Hazardous property codes and components (if applicable).

· Carrier details

· Receiver details

MyWastetracker does all this for you - automatically. 

In the context of DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking (DWT) system, PAT stands for Production Approval Tests. Being "PAT tested" means a software vendor’s system has successfully passed DEFRA's technical evaluation to legally and securely transmit waste data to the live government database.

MyWastetracker has been approved by DEFRA's production approval test process and has passed all the integration requirements.   MyWastetracker sends the waste data via the 'report receipt of waste' API and is fully set up and ready to go.  This is one of the easiest and quickest ways to send data to DEFRA and become compliant with the new regulations. 

Details must be submitted within 48 hours of receipt of load, ideally ‘programmatically’ via an API, but for the first 12 months DEFRA will allow ‘low-tech’ submission via a spreadsheet upload.  

MyWastetracker does all this for you - automatically and quickly.

From October 2027 all carriers will also be required to digitally submit details of all of their collections and transfers, with the intention that collection, transfer, receipt and processing can be tracked as a ‘complete journey’ item.

MyWastetracker is designed for receivers and carriers and brokers, small and large.

DEFRA have created a spreadsheet which waste receivers can complete and submit. Each received load will need to be data entered into the spreadsheet and the tracking number shared with the carrier.  

Automation is a much more efficient way to do this - MyWastetracker does all of the data processing and submissions for you and also provides you with extra modules to fully manage your business, get performance data and work smoothly with customers and subcontractors.  

It really is a gift to the weighbridge and to the business.

Please speak to us as prices vary.

Our price is fixed and regular and one of the lowest cost options on the market. Our system is tested and built thoroughly.  It is not an addon or a quickly built AI cheapy, it is done properly so you are sorted going forwards.

Most likely a free software option will be run by a waste broker and they will have access to your data; your customer list and your pricing.  This comes with enormous risk to the integrity of your business and risks significantly more cost to you than the price of a software licence. 

Brokers offering free software (especially while paying for google adwords) may well sell you back your own work at a lower price and will cost you significantly more than pricing the work yourself and using independent software.

Our advice is nothing comes for free. 

We advise not trusting these options.

If you want software - buy software.

If the price is very low it is likely that it will not integrate well for the carrier module required in 2027 and has been made cheaply and quickly.  Software development should go through numerous checks and audits way before it hits the consumer market and it is possible that many of the low cost options will increase their prices after just a few months. If you're locked into a contract, there's not much you can do about it.  

MyWastetracker offers a fixed price, includes a drivers' app, free data access to your records and flexible, fair terms.  This is one of the best priced options on the market - talk to us about the costs. 

We are from the waste industry and understand how your business works and how important price is. 

DEFRA have indicated that they will penalise those that don't comply.  More information in our blog article

No, it is not the same.  MyWastetracker has been written by waste industry pros with boots on the ground experience. We believe this matters - MyWastetracker is set to work efficiently for each sector of the industry (EWC code lists, waste returns, fixed and changing charges at the gate are just some examples of how this is different to a piece of software created by computers rather than people).  Waste management is a complex industry and it is important to work with the right providers who understand your processes. 

There are a number of software options on the market. Some systems produce electronic WTNs only; some are written by software businesses with software helpdesks; some are very expensive with usage limits and overspecified for smaller sites.  There are some options out there even charging you for a service you can get for free.

MyWastetracker is written by waste industry pros; it can be used across small and larger businesses, with integrated CRM and reporting and also is one of the cheapest on the market. 

The best option is to speak to us and see if MyWastetracker solves all the waste tracking challenges you're facing. 

No pressure selling, free usage until October and full clarity on costs.  

Wastetracker is an affordable and flexible solution so you won't overpay for modules you don't need. Perfect for small sites looking to comply with the regs, it also works for larger sites looking at data management. 

MyWastetracker is currently free until October 2026 so test it out and see if it works for you. 

MyWastetracker can work with waste companies across the size spectrum. While we can support the single site facilities who perhaps have never been digital, the software can be scaled up to fit multiple waste receiving sites and larger carriers.   

Our team have submitted tenders for UK businesses and are regularly contacted by large waste companies. If you have a tender document or a question about integration, do email it over to info@digitalwastetracking.co.uk. 

There is a full suite of reports to allow for integration with other software packages and for business intelligence.  

Speak to us about your needs and be confident you are using a fully PAT tested, API linking digital waste tracking solution. 

Wales is in line with the rules for England and this has been agreed by The Senedd.  See our Wales page for more information for permitted site compliance by 1st October 2026. 

Scotland will be required to abide by the same rules, but the date is slightly later - 1st January 2027 for waste receivers.  It isn't too early to be prepared.  Talk to us about early free access to MyWastetracker.