Service outage
Make a written record within the normal deadline; enter it within 7 days of the outage ending.
SI 2026/729 reg 6Software · digital waste tracking, cited
Waste tracking software: connecting to digital waste tracking
Waste tracking software records each movement of waste and, for a permitted site receiving waste in England, sends every load to the government’s digital waste tracking service by the end of the second working day.
This page sets out how software connects to that service, what it must do for each load, and the questions to put to a vendor; it names and ranks no product.
What the software does
What does waste tracking software do for each load? Five steps, two days
Waste tracking software follows waste movement by movement, and for a permitted receiving site in England it now has a legal job: getting every load into the government’s system on time.
The operator must record the specified information for each load and check it has entered the system by the end of the second working day after receipt, under regulation 4 of SI 2026/729.
The whole waste record — duty of care, separation, packaging and reporting — is covered on waste management software.
This page is the connection itself: the API, the onboarding and the proof.
- 1
Receive
The load arrives at the permitted site.
- 2
Record
The specified information captured in a digital waste record.
- 3
Submit
Sent to the service by API, with the site’s API Code.
- 4
Confirm
The digital waste record number returned and stored.
- 5
Correct
Errors fixed within a month; outages caught up within 7 days.
Who and when
Who must track waste digitally? Receiving sites first, collectors next
The duty falls on the operator of a permitted facility receiving controlled waste, and applies in England from 1 October 2026 under SI 2026/729.
Defra’s developer guide gives permitted or licensed sites in England and Wales from 1 October 2026, and Scotland and Northern Ireland from 1 January 2027; this page has read only the England instrument.
Defra’s policy paper plans the duty for waste collectors from October 2027.
Household waste deposited by residents at a council’s own site is outside regulation 4, under regulation 4(2).
Digital waste trackingExplore
Digital waste tracking
Scotland and NI
From 1 January 2027, per Defra’s developer guide.
Connecting software
How does a software provider connect? Register, test, self-certify, go live
Defra’s developer guide sets out the route: register, receive test credentials, build against the Receipt of Waste API, run the Production Approval Test scenarios, self-certify, and receive production credentials.
The test scenarios run from a single-item receipt to complex mixtures of hazardous waste and persistent organic pollutants.
Access uses OAuth client credentials and a bearer token, according to the authentication guide, and each receiving site gets its own API Code to pass to its software provider.
The API specification is marked public beta and may change, so a vendor should be able to say how quickly it follows each change.
- 1
Register
Sign up as a software provider and accept the API terms.
- 2
Test credentials
A client ID and secret for the test environment.
- 3
Build
Integrate with the Receipt of Waste API and its reference data.
- 4
Approval tests
Run the Production Approval Test scenarios.
- 5
Self-certify
Confirm by email that the software meets the requirements.
- 6
Go live
Production credentials; each receiver gets its own API Code.
Your deadline
When is a load due in the system? Work it out from the date
The tool beside this sorts the waste duties by role and nation, and for a receiving site in England works out the deadline for one load from the day it arrived.
The deadline is the end of the second working day after the day the load is received, under regulation 4(8).
The fee is £26 a year under regulation 5, separate from any software cost.
A product should show the deadline on every load and warn before it passes, not report the miss afterwards.
Your waste-record duties
Duty of care on every transfer
Pass the waste only to an authorised person, with written information carrying the List of Wastes code, quantity and SIC code. Both sides keep it for at least two years; it may be electronic.
Digital waste tracking: in force
Record every load received and check it has entered the government system by the end of the second working day; £26 a year per operator.
A load received on Friday, 6 November 2026 must be in the system by the end of Tuesday, 10 November 2026.
Weekends are skipped; bank holidays are not, so a deadline across one falls a day later than shown.
Nothing is stored or sent.
Approval
Is the software approved by government? Read both sources
The regulations give the person running the system functions that include “the approval of software”, under regulation 3(3) of SI 2026/729.
Defra’s developer guide, updated 14 October 2026, describes software providers self-certifying after the Production Approval Tests, and says Defra does not review, mark or approve those results at that stage.
Both are true as written, so the safe question to a vendor is how and when it completed onboarding and received production credentials, not whether it is “approved”.
Defra’s developer pages read for this page do not publish a list of connected products.
Software approvalExplore
Software approval
The regulation
The system’s functions “include … the approval of software”.
Software approval
The developer guide
Providers self-certify after the approval tests.
Software approval
Defra’s review
“Defra does not review, mark or approve your results at this stage.”
Software approval
Production access
Issued once terms are agreed and self-certification confirmed.
When things go wrong
What happens in an outage or after an error? Two clocks
If the service is down, the operator makes a written record within the normal deadline and enters it within 7 days beginning with the day after the outage is resolved, under regulation 6.
An error must be corrected within one month of the operator becoming aware of it, under regulation 7(2).
A product should queue records through an outage and keep both the original and the correction, each dated, rather than overwrite.
Something
goes wrong
goes wrong
Error in a record
Correct it within one month of becoming aware of it.
SI 2026/729 reg 7(2)Producers and carriers
What do businesses outside the service still keep? The duty of care record
Receiving sites
Digital trackingEngland from 1 October 2026Collectors
October 2027Planned, per DefraProducers
Duty of careRecords kept two yearsFee
£26 a yearReceiving sites — reg 5Every business that produces, carries or keeps controlled waste is under the duty of care in section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and nothing in SI 2026/729 revokes it.
The written information on each transfer, set out in regulation 35, may be electronic and must be kept for at least two years by both sides.
A producer’s tonnages also feed packaging EPR under SI 2024/1332, ESRS E5 for EU reporters under the revised ESRS, and the waste category of a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan.
Read the hazardous-waste note
Hazardous waste moves under a consignment note, and the digital record for a hazardous load carries the consignment note code, under Part 2 of Schedule 1 to SI 2026/729.
The duty of careExplore
The tests before you sign
How do you test a waste tracking product? Eight questions, each tied to a rule
Each question beside this names the regulation or Defra page it comes from and what a passing answer looks like.
Run them on your own loads, because a demonstration never has a Friday delivery, a hazardous mixture or an outage.
This site has tested no products
Nothing on this page is a rating, ranking or recommendation of any product.
Waste tracking demo questions · tick the ones you need
The pass tests are our reading of the cited provisions.
Nothing you tick is stored or sent.
Waste tracking software, in one sentence
Every load a permitted English site receives must reach the government’s system within two working days, and the record number is the proof.
Takeaways
What to take from this page
| The fact | What to do |
|---|---|
| Digital waste tracking is law for English receiving sites from 1 October 2026 | Confirm your software submits by API with your site’s API Code |
| Each load has a two-working-day deadline | Show the deadline on every load and warn before it passes |
| Providers self-certify under Defra’s current guide | Ask how and when a vendor completed onboarding |
| Producers stay on the duty of care | Keep transfer information for at least two years |
Start with the deadline tool, then take the demo questions to vendors.
Frequently asked
Waste tracking software, answered
What is waste tracking software?
Software that records each movement of waste — what it is, how much, who carried it and where it went — and, for a permitted site receiving waste in England, sends each load to the government’s digital waste tracking service.
Defra built the service to take data from waste businesses’ existing software through an API.
Is digital waste tracking mandatory?
For operators of permitted facilities receiving waste in England, yes, from 1 October 2026 under the Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026.
Each load must be recorded and checked into the system by the end of the second working day after receipt.
Defra’s developer guide gives England and Wales from 1 October 2026 and Scotland and Northern Ireland from 1 January 2027.
Who has to use the digital waste tracking service?
In the first phase, the operators of permitted or licensed facilities that receive waste.
Defra’s policy paper plans the duty for waste collectors from October 2027.
Businesses that only produce waste remain under the duty of care, keeping written transfer information for at least two years.
How does waste tracking software connect to the government service?
Through the Receipt of Waste API.
A software provider registers with Defra, builds against a test environment using OAuth client credentials, runs Defra’s Production Approval Test scenarios, self-certifies, and receives production credentials.
Each receiving site then gets its own API Code to give to its software provider.
Does Defra approve waste tracking software?
The regulations give the person running the system functions that include “the approval of software”.
Defra’s developer guide, updated 14 October 2026, describes software providers self-certifying after the Production Approval Tests and says Defra does not review, mark or approve those results at that stage.
Ask any vendor how it completed onboarding and when.
What happens if the service is down?
The operator makes a written record within the same deadline and enters it into the system within 7 days beginning with the day after the outage is resolved, under regulation 6 of SI 2026/729.
How are mistakes corrected?
Within one month of the operator becoming aware of the error, under regulation 7(2).
A product should keep the original and the correction, each dated.
How much does digital waste tracking cost?
The government fee is £26, payable when the duty first arises and on each anniversary.
Software to connect to the service is a separate, commercial cost.
Can a site use a spreadsheet instead of software?
Defra offers a spreadsheet route as a temporary solution, expected to remain until at least October 2027.
The service is designed around API submission from existing software.
Is waste tracking software the same as waste management software?
It is one part of it.
Waste management software keeps the whole waste record — duty of care, separation, packaging and reporting tonnages; waste tracking software is the movement-by-movement part, and for receiving sites the connection to the digital service.
Has this site tested any waste tracking software?
No. The page is built from the regulations, Defra’s policy paper and its developer guide, and it names no product.
Sources
Primary sources
Every duty and date on this page traces to the instrument, policy paper or developer guide listed here.
Checked against 16 sources fromlegislation.gov.ukDefraEUR-LexCabinet OfficeGHG ProtocolDepartment for Business and Trade
- legislation.gov.ukThe Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/729
In force 1 October 2026; the system’s functions include “the approval of software”.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2026/729, regulation 4
Record each load and check it is in the system by the end of the second working day.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2026/729, regulation 5
The £26 fee, then on each anniversary.
- DefraDeveloping the digital waste tracking service (updated 1 October 2026)
API-first; spreadsheet as a temporary route; collectors from October 2027.
- DefraDeveloper guide: Register and Onboard as a Software Provider (updated 14 October 2026)
Test credentials, Production Approval Tests, self-certification, production credentials.
- DefraDeveloper guide: Getting Started
Receivers and developers; test and production environments; API codes.
- DefraReceipt of Waste API Specification (updated 10 October 2026)
Public beta; may change with policy, legislation and feedback.
- DefraDeveloper guide: Authentication
OAuth client credentials and a bearer token.
- legislation.gov.ukEnvironmental Protection Act 1990, section 34
The duty of care on everyone who handles controlled waste.
- legislation.gov.ukWaste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, regulation 35
Written information on each transfer, kept for at least two years.
- legislation.gov.ukPackaging EPR Regulations 2024, SI 2024/1332
Packaging tonnage data owed by producers.
- EUR-LexCommission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 (revised ESRS)
ESRS E5: resource outflows related to waste.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 technical standard
Waste generated in operations, a Scope 3 category in a Carbon Reduction Plan.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
Waste emissions as a value-chain category.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S1 General Requirements (PDF), ¶3
All sustainability-related risks and opportunities, where material.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19
Comply or explain for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.