Digital Waste Tracking

Newly introduced legislation in England, Scotland and Wales comes in to force in October 2026 in England and Wales, and January 2027 in Scotland. The newly passed Digital Waste Tracking Regulations establish a digital waste tracking system, the purpose of which is to track controlled waste.

The UK government and the devolved administrations are committed to tackling the issue of waste crime and poor performing waste sites. Tackling criminal behaviour, will not only prevent environmental harm but will also ensure that resources are being properly recycled or recovered and fed back into the economy.

To do this, the information gap that hinders the effective regulation and management of waste needs to be closed by the mandatory use of a digital waste tracking service that will ultimately also transform existing outdated systems for recording waste movements. The digital waste tracking service will eventually replace the existing requirements to complete waste transfer notes (WTN) and hazardous waste consignment notes (CN). Overall, where a record of a waste movement within the UK is required under existing legal requirements, a record on the UK digital waste tracking service will be required. The information to be provided to the digital waste tracking service comprises all the information currently recorded on WTNs and CNs.

The first phase of digital waste tracking focuses only on waste receiving sites, that is, those sites required to hold a permit or licence to receive waste. These permitted/licenced waste-receiving sites are mandated, from October 2026 (January 2027 in Scotland), to record on the digital waste tracking service details of all the waste they receive including waste containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs).  The service requires the use of commercially available software  and the required information must be entered within 2 working days of receipt of the waste.

Following this initial phase, it is planned to expand the service to other waste operators. It is anticipated that mandatory compliance for other waste handlers, including waste collectors, carriers, brokers and dealers will come into effect from October 2027.

For the time being, waste producers and those responsible for transporting waste to waste receiving sites will continue to use the current systems.