Live now · filing to DEFRA’s API
Digital waste tracking that files itself.
Since 1 October 2026, permitted sites in England and Wales report every load they take in to DEFRA within 2 working days. WTNcloud turns the receipt you already record into the filing — checked against DEFRA’s own code lists, sent the moment it’s complete, and explained in plain English if anything comes back.
- On every plan — free included
- Every code checked before it's sent
- DEFRA credentials encrypted
WTNcloud is on GOV.UK's list of software providers for reporting waste receipts. Independent software, not a government service.
Now in force · England & Wales
Since 1 October 2026, permitted sites in England and Wales report every load they take in to DEFRA within 2 working days.
Next deadline · 1 January 2027
87 days until permitted sites in Scotland and Northern Ireland must report every load they take in to DEFRA.
- 1 October 2026In forceReceiving sites · England & Wales
- 1 January 2027NextReceiving sites · Scotland & Northern Ireland
- October 2027ComingCarriers, brokers & dealers · Waste collectors
What it replaces
Reporting by hand is a second job. It doesn’t have to be.
Today a transfer is documented by a waste transfer note — or, for hazardous waste, a consignment note — held by each party and produced on request. Digital waste tracking moves those records into DEFRA’s service, where regulators have access to the load data instead of asking each party for its copy. The duty of care doesn’t change. The admin does.
- The load arrives
- By hand: Write it up on the ticket, then key the same load again into DEFRA's spreadsheet.
- With WTNcloud: Confirm the weight and the R/D code on the receipt you already record. That is the filing.
- Before it's sent
- By hand: Hope the EWC, R/D and container codes are ones DEFRA recognises.
- With WTNcloud: Every code is checked against DEFRA's own lists before anything leaves.
- DEFRA says no
- By hand: Work out what “carrier.registrationNumber: InvalidFormat” wants from you.
- With WTNcloud: Read “The carrier's registration number isn't in a format DEFRA accepts”, and where to fix it.
- End of the day
- By hand: Cross-check which loads went in and which quietly didn't.
- With WTNcloud: Every movement shows filed, needs attention or needs set-up — and you're emailed when one needs you.
- You got one wrong
- By hand: Start that record again from scratch.
- With WTNcloud: Amend the record and re-file it from the same screen.
How WTNcloud connects to DEFRA
From the weighbridge to a waste tracking ID.
Set it up once. After that, the only thing you do is the thing you already do: record what came through the gate.
Tell us your receiving site and paste the API code DEFRA gives you. A checklist goes green as you go, and the code is encrypted the moment it's saved.
- Active plan — the free one counts
- Waste receiver role is on
- Your receiving site and permit
- Your DEFRA API code
- The site's name, address and postcode
Confirm what arrived — gross and tare off the weighbridge, or the weight straight in — and the R/D code for what you'll do with it.
Every code is checked against DEFRA's lists, then the receipt submits the moment it's complete. A waste tracking ID comes back and sits on the record.
"ewcCodes": ["170504"]"weight": { "amount": 6.18, "metric": "Tonnes" }"disposalOrRecoveryCodes": [{ "code": "R5" }]
- Codes checked against DEFRA’s lists
- Auto-submitted as soon as the receipt was recorded
- Accepted by DEFRA2652GTHLJ
If DEFRA says no, you read what's wrong and where to change it — not a field path. Amend the record and re-file it from the same screen.
What’s included
Filing to DEFRA is on every plan. Even the free one.
Reporting receipts is the law, so we don’t sell it as an upgrade. Every feature in this grid comes with every WTNcloud account, the free one included.
See how filing works, screen by screenDEFRA receipt filing
Submit receive-movement records straight to DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking API.
Auto-submit
Receipts file themselves as soon as you record the load with its R/D code.
Plain-English error fixes
DEFRA rejection codes become a fix plan, not a raw error dump.
Amend & re-file
Correct a record already sent to DEFRA and re-submit it.
Checked before it's sent
Every load is checked against DEFRA's rules before it goes, with tracking-ID badges once accepted.
Guided DWT setup
A set-up checklist that says what's missing, an illustrated screen-by-screen guide, and your DEFRA API code encrypted at rest.
Self-carry receipts
File a receive for waste you collected and brought back to your own permitted site.
Operator roles
Carrier, producer, receiver or broker — the interface adapts to what you are.
Busy gatehouse? · Included on Enterprise
The receiver inbox suite does the typing too.
Carriers fire loads straight at your site, paper notes get read for you, and your permit headroom keeps itself up to date.
Receiver inbox featuresReceiver inboxEnterprise
Carriers send their notes to your site on arrival and they land in your inbox, with a lorry's worth grouped together — plus paper notes from the gate or by email.
Accept, reject or partialEnterprise
Confirm the weight you took in — less than stated is a partial acceptance — or reject with a reason; every load you accept is kept as a copy that can't be changed.
OCR paper notesEnterprise
Photograph or upload a paper transfer note and the fields are read for you, with anything uncertain marked to check.
Gate drop-off QREnterprise
A QR on the gate lets customers upload their own paperwork with no login, into a review queue you control.
Emailed notesEnterprise
Your site gets its own email address; every PDF or photo a customer sends to it lands in your inbox, read and ready to check in.
Part E from the inboxEnterprise
Sign Part E of a hazardous consignment note addressed to your site, straight from the inbox.
Permit mass-balanceEnterprise
Waste in vs waste out against your permit tonnage, per-EWC sub-limits, a headroom gauge and CSV export.
Who has to comply
What changes, by role.
Receiving sites go first, then waste collectors. Producers aren’t in either phase, but every record starts with how they classified the waste.
Waste producers
Digital waste tracking's phases cover receiving sites and waste collectors, but every record they make starts with your classification — the right EWC code, and an honest hazard assessment where the entry is a mirror pair.
Where WTNcloud fitsAI waste-code search suggests the code from a plain-English description, and mirror entries are handled instead of guessed.
Carriers and drivers
From October 2027, the digital waste tracking service is mandatory for waste collectors — carriers, brokers and dealers. A record is only as good as what was captured at collection, so capture it there: on a device, including when there is no signal.
Where WTNcloud fitsA complete WTN on the driver's phone with zero signal, the EWC catalogue on the device — right at the kerb, ready for when the carrier API opens.
Brokers and dealers
Brokers and dealers are waste collectors too, so the service is mandatory for you from October 2027, alongside carriers.
Where WTNcloud fitsPick the roles you operate in and WTNcloud adapts to them; every note records who created and signed it.
Receiving sites
First in line: permitted sites from 1 October 2026 in England and Wales, 1 January 2027 in Scotland and Northern Ireland. You report what actually arrived — the waste code, its weight, how it was contained and what you did with it.
Where WTNcloud fitsReceipts file to DEFRA's API today, on every plan — checked, auto-submitted and explained in plain English when they bounce.
The data
What every movement has to record.
A tracked movement draws on several separate code lists, and free text isn’t accepted where a code exists — a description in a code field is rejected, not interpreted. WTNcloud picks every code from the lists, so a description never ends up in a code field.
- 842EWC codesWhat the waste is
- 28Disposal & Recovery CodesWhat happens to it at the destination
- 16Hazardous Property CodesWhy it is hazardous, if it is
- 31POP CodesWhich persistent organic pollutants it contains
- 16Container TypesHow it was contained
Every list is published in full on this site, sourced from DEFRA’s own reference data — see all UK waste codes.
Hazardous waste is not simply harder — it is different.
A hazardous load carries obligations a non-hazardous one does not, from hazard property codes describing why it’s hazardous to persistent organic pollutants declared with their concentrations.
- Hazard property (HP) codes
- A consignment code
- A consignee return
- Three-year retention, not two
- POPs above Annex IV limits declared
Classification is the producer’s duty and it’s where most of the risk sits. For a mirror entry, whether the hazardous half applies depends on what the waste actually contains — WM3 is explicit that the EWC entry alone does not settle it. Consignment note receipts file to DEFRA from WTNcloud too, HP codes and POPs included.
The four nations still differ.
Digital tracking doesn’t merge four regulatory regimes into one — and the receiving-site deadline isn’t the same everywhere either. WTNcloud keeps each account on its own nation’s rules.
England
Environment Agency
Receivers1 October 2026
Hazardous waste premises registration was abolished in 2016.
Wales
Natural Resources Wales
Receivers1 October 2026
Still runs the premises registration England abolished.
Scotland
SEPA
Receivers1 January 2027
Calls it special waste, and issues consignment codes centrally.
Northern Ireland
NIEA
Receivers1 January 2027
Its own statutes and a one-day consignee return. A GB carrier registration doesn't cover movements here.
Dates are when receiving sites must file. Carriers, brokers and dealers follow from October 2027.
Compare the four nations side by sideCheck yourself
What to sort before your deadline.
Four things, in this order. Tick off what you’ve already got covered.
Who needs to comply with digital waste tracking?
Sites that receive waste, then the businesses that collect it. Permitted and licensed receiving sites go first: from 1 October 2026 in England and Wales, and 1 January 2027 in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Waste collectors — carriers, brokers and dealers — follow from October 2027. Sites working under a waste exemption rather than a permit are not in the first phase. Your duty of care doesn't change. DEFRA's own name for the system is the Digital Waste Tracking Service, which you will occasionally see shortened to DWTS.
When is the digital waste tracking deadline?
It depends on your role and nation. Permitted receiving sites in England and Wales must use the digital waste tracking service from 1 October 2026, and in Scotland and Northern Ireland from 1 January 2027. Waste collectors — carriers, brokers and dealers — follow from October 2027. Nothing about your duty of care changes on those dates. What changes is where the record goes: into DEFRA's service, where regulators have access to the load data.
What does digital waste tracking mean for receivers of waste?
A receiving site confirms what actually arrived: the quantity, the EWC code, the container and what was done with the waste. Where the load does not match what was declared, the discrepancy is recorded as it was, not as it was expected to be. Hazardous loads add a consignee return to the regulator and three-year retention.
Is there a digital waste tracking compliance checklist?
Four things, in this order: check your waste is classified correctly under the right EWC code; confirm your carrier, broker and dealer registrations are current for every nation you operate in; work out how a movement gets recorded at the point it happens, on a device, with no signal; and if you receive waste, decide how you will confirm what actually arrived when it differs from what was declared.
Do I have to use DEFRA's spreadsheet to report waste receipts?
No. You can report through software connected to DEFRA's API, or fill in and upload DEFRA's own spreadsheet template, which DEFRA calls temporary and expects to keep until at least October 2027. WTNcloud is the software route: the receipt you record is the filing, so nothing is typed twice.
Is WTNcloud on GOV.UK's list of software providers?
Yes. WTNcloud is on GOV.UK's list of software providers for reporting waste receipts, and has been since June 2026. Independent software, not a government service. As GOV.UK says, buying software is at your own risk, so compare providers before you choose.
How much does digital waste tracking cost?
DEFRA charges £26 a year for each organisation, covering all of its receiving sites. The first payment is due by 31 January 2027, and an organisation that registers later in the year still pays the full amount. Filing receipts to DEFRA from WTNcloud costs nothing extra on any plan, and the free plan covers your first 20 received loads.
How does WTNcloud connect to DEFRA's digital waste tracking service?
Receiving sites file receive-movement records to DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking API from WTNcloud today — with auto-submit once the receipt is recorded with its R/D code, a check against DEFRA's rules before it goes, plain-English fixes for rejection codes, and amend-and-re-file for a record already sent. DEFRA credentials are encrypted at rest. Carrier-side filing follows when DEFRA's carrier API opens.
Digital waste tracking guides
- How to Prepare Your Waste Business for DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking MandateDEFRA's digital waste tracking mandate lands in phases, with receiving sites first in 2026 and carriers following in 2027. Waiting until the deadline is the expensive way to do it. This guide walks through the timeline, works out where your business fits, and lays out the practical steps — reviewing your records, weighing up API versus spreadsheet, training your team — so the switch is smooth rather than scrambled.Read the guide
- DEFRA Digital Waste Tracking: What Changes for Waste Carriers in 2026DEFRA has confirmed that mandatory digital waste tracking is coming to England. The shift from paper-based waste transfer notes to a centralised electronic system will affect every waste carrier, broker, and disposal facility in the country. Here's what we know and how to prepare.Read the guide
- What Digital Waste Tracking Means for Skip Hire and Man-and-Van OperatorsDigital waste tracking becomes mandatory in October 2026. Here's what it means for skip hire and man-and-van operators — and how to get ready. Read the guide
- Digital Waste Tracking Compliance 2026: What UK Waste Carriers Need to KnowMandatory digital waste tracking is coming, and it's arriving in stages. Receiving sites are first in October 2026, with carriers, brokers and dealers following in 2027. Here's what each phase means for your business — and why getting familiar with the system early beats scrambling at the deadline.Read the guide
- Paper vs Digital Waste Tracking for EA Compliance: What Changes in 2026Paper Waste Transfer Notes won't be accepted from October 2026. See how digital waste tracking compares and what the EA rules mean for you.Read the guide
- Electronic Signatures for Hazardous Waste Consignment Notes: Legal RequirementsElectronic consignment notes are fully legal in the UK. Here's what the rules say about e-signatures, codes and retention for hazardous waste.Read the guide
20 free WTNs · No card required
Be filing before the deadline, not after it.
Set up your site and your DEFRA code once. From then on, every load you record files itself.
EA compliant · GDPR compliant · EU data storage