Consultation outcome

Government response

Updated 21 October 2023

Introduction

We want to make it easier to track waste and resources produced from waste throughout the economy by introducing a mandatory digital waste tracking service which enables users to provide the right information at the right time. 

This consultation response forms part of the UK Government’s wider plans to introduce smarter regulation to grow the economy. Smarter regulation is about improving regulation and guidance for businesses across the board, ensuring it is as clear, proportionate and does not unnecessarily impose burdens on businesses which restrict innovation and growth.

We are developing the IT service with help from those in the waste industry, frequently testing and obtaining feedback from members of our user panel. Changing and adapting the service as a result to meet the needs of the users.

Between January and April 2022, the UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland (DAERA) , consulted jointly on the introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking.

In total 713 responses to the consultation were received and a summary of the responses has been published.

Whilst most of waste policy is a devolved matter, the UK Government and devolved administrations have agreed to work together to develop a UK wide waste tracking service to provide a seamless system across the UK.  As such the governments and environmental regulators across the UK have reviewed the responses provided and worked together to agree the positions set out in this document. Final decisions for Northern Ireland will be made by a future DAERA minister.

Where a response covers several questions posed in the consultation, this has been detailed in the relevant section.

Waste types

This is the response to Question 7 of the consultation.

We intend that the waste tracking service will require information to be recorded about movements of all types of controlled waste and extractive waste as defined by the waste tracking powers in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (In relation to Great Britain) and in the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 (for Northern Ireland) ^{[footnote 1]} .

This includes all types of household, commercial and industrial waste whether it is classified as hazardous or non-hazardous waste.

Broadly the requirements to start tracking this waste will begin from the place where it is produced.  There will be some exceptions to this for certain waste streams or for specific activities where we have deemed it acceptable for waste tracking to begin at a point further along the waste chain.  More details about these exceptions can be found in the following section.

Regarding extractive wastes such as, waste from mines or quarries, we will not be requiring waste tracking records unless this waste is being removed off site. 

In general, animal by-products are excluded from the definition of ‘controlled waste’ and are therefore generally not within scope of the legal waste tracking powers, however some responders to the consultation felt that by not recording animal by products going into waste receiving sites on the waste tracking service there will be a discrepancy between waste inputs and waste outputs for a site.  Upon review we found that legislation relating to recording information about the movements of animal by-products poses no barrier to users doing this on the digital waste tracking service, however our powers in the Environment Act 2021 would not enable us to mandate this for all animal-by-products.  At an appropriate point we will therefore consider building into the waste tracking service the necessary functionality to enable those involved in the movements of animal by-products to record this information on the service if they wish to.  

What will be tracked

This is the response to Questions 8, 9 and 10 of the consultation.

The digital waste tracking service requirements will replace the existing requirements to complete waste transfer notes and hazardous waste consignment notes.  For shipments of waste under Green List Waste controls such as, exports or imports of non-hazardous waste for recycling, Annex VII documentation will still need to travel with the waste to ensure all parties, including those outside of the UK, are able to assess the waste. However, when the UK waste tracking service is introduced, the information contained on the Annex VII form will also need to be entered onto the service.

Overall, where a record of a waste movement within the UK is required under existing legal requirements, a record on the UK waste tracking service will be required.

The main difference will be that digital waste tracking records will be required when household waste is collected from domestic premises by third parties (subject to the exceptions).  Almost two thirds of flytipping incidents involve household waste and therefore it is important to improve transparency so that householders can check to see where their waste has been taken if they want to.

Where sites in the UK are currently receiving waste under a waste related permit, licence or registered exemption (or operating under some form of local regulatory position), these will generally have associated conditions requiring the operator to record details about the waste being brought into the site.  If there isn’t a specific requirement, regulators would still reasonably expect records to be kept so that the operator can assure themselves they are complying with the conditions of the authorisation, such as the types of waste or volumes of waste allowed.  We will therefore require information about waste received by a waste receiving site to be recorded on the waste tracking service as part of a waste movement.

In general terms, waste tracking service records will be required when waste is handled in the circumstances below although as previously mentioned, some exceptions to these will apply.

• waste is passed to a different organisation or person

• waste is moved between sites operated by the same organisation, for example moving waste between different permitted waste sites operated by the same entity

• waste is passed from the control of one organisation to another organisation within the same site, for example where there are different waste facilities operated by different entities in one location

• waste is moved between authorisations operated by the same entity on the same site, for example waste is moved from the control of a permitted facility to be handled under a registered exemption operated by the same entity within the same locality

Where waste does not leave the site where it was originally produced, then waste tracking records will also be required to be submitted onto the waste tracking service when:

• waste is deposited, recovered, or treated under an environmental waste permit or licence.  This is necessary as when the digital waste tracking service is implemented, separate permitted or licenced site waste returns will no longer be required

• hazardous waste is being handled under a registered exemption.  This is necessary because through the implementation of mandatory digital waste tracking, separate hazardous waste returns will no longer be required

Some of these types of activities will require less information to be recorded than others and we will be working with users through the IT development to determine what level of information would be necessary and the frequency with which the information will be required.  

Exceptions

We intend to create exceptions from the overarching requirements for digital waste tracking records, where we feel a risk based, pragmatic approach is possible while still sufficiently protecting the environment.  Information about the waste being handled under these exceptions will still be captured in the waste tracking service but records will begin at a later point in the waste chain.  These exceptions apply to waste being managed within the UK only, they do not apply to shipments of Green List Waste.

Household waste collected from domestic premises by local authorities

We will not be requiring there to be a waste tracking record for every collection of household waste from domestic premises by local authorities or contractors working on behalf of local authorities.  Waste tracking records for this waste will begin when it is taken into a waste receiving site.

Household waste recycling centres (HWRCs)

Householders will not be required to record anything on the digital waste tracking service about waste they have produced which they move themselves.  Operators of HWRCs will also not need to record the receipt of waste from householders on the waste tracking service. 

Operators of HWRCs will need to record information about any commercial business waste accepted onto sites.  This is akin to current requirements to complete records about these types of transfers.  Waste tracking records will also be required when waste is removed from a HWRC.

Litter

A person or organisation collecting litter (including authorities collecting litter as a statutory duty) will not be required to create digital waste tracking records for the movement of that waste to a collection point. 

Incidental waste

Where incidental waste is generated and moved by people who are not providing a specific waste management service, for example tradespeople and mobile service operators, digital waste tracking records will not be required for the first movement of that waste to a collection point.  Digital waste records will be required when the waste is moved from the collection point.

Samples of waste

Where individual samples of waste are sent to another site for the purpose of analysis and determining its correct classification or description, then digital waste tracking service records will not be required for the movement of the sample from the producer to the site conducting the testing. It is likely that we will include a weight or volume limit for this exception.

Other potential exceptions

We are continuing to discuss other potential exceptions including those below and will engage further with stakeholders on the detail of these to ensure a practical approach. As waste is generally a devolved matter, there is already variability among the UK nations with regards to record keeping requirements for waste and it is possible that this will continue.

• movements of non-hazardous waste between sites operated by the same person or organisation where there are no activities that require an environmental permit or waste management licence involved.
• retailers take back schemes including future deposit return schemes.
• charity donations
• multi producer premises such as shopping centres and healthcare facilities where waste is managed collectively.

In England, it is intended to align the eventual list of waste tracking exceptions to the requirements under the new reforms for carriers, brokers and dealers of waste (CBD reforms), so that if a permit is not required under the new CBD reforms, then digital waste tracking records will not be required. 

End of waste products

Some concerns were raised about our proposal to require information regarding products and materials that have been produced from waste to certain standards or criteria, and as such are no longer deemed to be waste.

While we appreciate that these products and materials fall outside of current waste tracking documentation, as part of our commitment to moving towards a circular economy it is important for us to understand what secondary materials are being made from waste and at what scale, to support and encourage the use of these in place of raw materials. 

Existing data reporting requirements

This is the response to Question 11 of the consultation.

The data recorded in the waste tracking service will be required to be entered in a much timelier way than it is now and at a more granular level.

It will replace the requirements for aggregated waste reporting such as hazardous waste returns or quarterly site returns, and for local authorities it will provide the information that currently has to be gathered and reported onto the WasteDataFlow system about waste movements and treatment.

The waste tracking service requirements will also replace the need for prenotification of hazardous waste consignment notes and submission of Annex VII forms to NIEA.  In Scotland the waste tracking requirements will replace pre-shipment submission of Annex VII forms and submission of hazardous or special waste consignment note deposit copies to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). 

For those that use the data from WasteDataFlow or from other sources that provide access to aggregated waste data, such as the Waste Data Interrogator in England, StatsWales or the Environment web in Scotland, the waste tracking service should provide better flexibility and accuracy because the individual data is being entered much closer to the time a waste activity takes place.

Government and the environmental regulators will be developing transition plans for the move from data returns to the use of the waste tracking service data.

What information will need to be recorded

This is the response to Questions 12, 13, 14 and 18 of the consultation.

Given the waste tracking service will be replacing waste transfer notes, hazardous waste consignment notes and will require the information on Annex VII forms for green list waste shipments to be recorded on the service, information that is currently required on these documents will feature in the waste tracking service.

Our consultation set out other information we proposed would need recording in the waste tracking service, and while overall there was high levels of support for recording these additional pieces of information, there were some concerns and our response to these is as follows:

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

We recognise there is not always detailed knowledge or competence in identifying whether POPs exist in waste within the waste industry, but this is improving.  The identification of POPs in waste forms part of the overall waste classification and description that must be passed between those managing it to comply with their waste duty of care.  We will continue to work with industry to help identify and provide what additional support is needed to be able to comply with this duty of care.

Waste classification

While there was good support in the consultation responses for recording information about who classifies waste, we understand that in many cases it won’t always be just one person who determines the classification.

Through the proposed carrier, broker, and dealer reforms in England we are seeking to improve the competence of those making decisions about how waste should be managed.  Under these reforms, ‘controllers’ of waste such as, those making the decision about what it is and where it will go, will be required to obtain an environmental permit, and undertake a competence qualification.  Permit details will be required to be recorded in the waste tracking service where relevant.

In the future Defra plans to consider separate options to introduce waste classification competency requirements and Scottish Government will also be consulting in the coming months on proposals for carrier, broker, and dealers’ reforms in Scotland.  We will continue to consider how waste tracking can support these reforms going forward.

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes

We need SIC codes to understand what waste types and volumes of waste are being produced in the UK by different sectors and processes. This is important for waste policy, strategy, and planning. Currently, some of this data is estimated using ad hoc waste surveys with limited accuracy and infrequent updates.

SIC codes are relied upon by the Office of National Statistics for production of other statistics and therefore the inclusion of them in the waste tracking service may enable us to integrate national waste statistics with other datasets and therefore make better decisions based on a broader evidence base.

We do recognise however that there is currently some confusion about what SIC codes should be recorded on the existing paperwork documents, and therefore we will seek to provide some guidance for this when we move to the digital service.

Waste treatment and end state

We understand that after waste enters a waste receiving site it can undergo a variety of different treatment processes which makes continuing to track individual loads of waste extremely difficult.  However, we consider it important for waste producers to understand what has been done with their waste and therefore we are proposing that when waste is brought to a waste receiving site, the operator will record the following two pieces of information on the waste tracking service record relevant to that waste:

1) Intended waste hierarchy option, for example Prepare for Re-use, Recycle, Other Recovery or Disposal and,

2) Intended waste management method, for example landfill, composting, shredding etc. 

These methods will obviously be limited by the type of authorisation held by the receiving site which allows them to carry out certain specified activities.  Therefore, identifying which of these activities the operator intends to apply to the waste should not be onerous. 

We are likely to use existing disposal and recovery codes as the basis for these methods, however we recognise that there are sometimes issues with these codes as described on the next page. We will work with users during testing to see if there is anything else we can do to address these issues.

This information will help waste producers make more informed choices over managing their waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy.

We know that currently WasteDataFlow goes a step further than this for local authorities, by providing information on actual recycling rates and other end states for waste within their areas, upon which waste targets and management decisions are based.  We are aiming to replicate this in the waste tracking service using a mathematical data model to provide these statistics and we will work with local authorities to ensure this meets their needs.

End of waste products and materials

We have reviewed our requirements around this and will only be asking for the country where the product or material is being sent.  We shall ensure that we qualify these requirements so that sales of small volumes of products and materials such as individual car parts for example, are not required to be recorded.

Source of waste

There were several suggestions for the recording of a generic source of a waste, for example household or business etc, which we will explore with a view to including where appropriate.

We are also continuing to explore where the waste tracking service can be used to support other developing waste policies such as extended producer responsibility for packaging and implementing the separate collection of waste.

Additional information for Green List Waste Shipments

To support the effective regulation of shipments of Green List Waste, we will also look to require the following information to be recorded in the waste tracking service and will test this with users during the development of the service:

• receptacle type; for example, shipping container, trailer etc and relevant identification number(s)
• point of entry to or point of exit from the UK

Recording disposal and recovery information

This is the response to Questions 15, 16 and 17 of the consultation.

From the consultation responses it is apparent that while the use of disposal and recovery codes to record information about disposal and recovery activities is familiar to many, there are issues around their applicability to all scenarios, with some waste treatment activities that can be covered by more than one code or some that aren’t covered at all.

As part of the IT development, we will test ways to address the issues with these codes to meet the needs of the users. For shipments of Green List Waste, the inclusion of disposal and recovery codes will remain as per the Annex VII form.

Dangerous goods information

This is the response to Questions 19, 20 and 21 of the consultation.

Businesses transporting dangerous goods must comply with documentation requirements set out in the legislation relating to the carriage of dangerous goods ^{[footnote 2]}, enforced by the Health and Safety Executive amongst others.  The existing hazardous waste consignment note template has a section where the information required can be recorded, however it is not mandatory to record this information on the hazardous waste consignment note and indeed many already record it on separate documentation.  While there was strong support for including this information in the waste tracking service, we have decided that we will not include boxes for recording this information in the service, because this would mean we would need to enable other group of users such as the emergency services to access the waste tracking service in a range of scenarios, adding additional complexity to the IT development and data access requirements.

Once the service is operational, we will review this position.

Waste hierarchy

This is the response to Questions 22 and 23 of the consultation.

Responders to the consultation provided mixed views regarding the demonstration of compliance with the waste hierarchy in the waste tracking service.

As we work through the development of the service, we will test options for promoting the understanding of and engagement with the waste hierarchy options while keeping any additional requirements minimal.  One option we will test is the use of a drop-down list rather than a tick box, asking producers to select (or confirm) the waste hierarchy option that they intended their waste to be subjected to.  This will be able to be compared to the waste hierarchy option that the site receiving the waste will enter as detailed in the ‘Waste treatment and end state section above.

Use of the service

This is the response to Questions 24 and 25 of the consultation.

The waste tracking service is a web-based service being developed by government in accordance with open digital standards.  That means that it will be accessible and able to be used easily across all types of electronic devices.

There will be no need for users to obtain specific software or purchase licences.

The service will provide different ways to interact with it whether you want to record the details of just one movement or multiple movements in bulk.

Real time recording of information

This is the response to Questions 26, 27 and 28 of the consultation.

As the waste tracking service will be accessible across all types of electronic devices, we would expect there will be many who will prefer to use the service in real time. For example, when a waste carrier goes to collect some waste, they will access the relevant waste tracking service record there and then to confirm that they have collected it.

However, we also understand that by mandating everyone works in this way from the day the waste tracking service is introduced may be challenging for some types of users in the waste industry and this may lead to poor quality data being entered onto the service.

The majority of those who responded to these questions in the consultation (around 80% for each type of waste movement) said that they felt that they would be able to transition to real time recording in less than 3 years.  We would therefore expect that after 2 years of the service being operational, most users would either be using the service in real time or would be transitioning to using the service in real time and we would seek to further mandate this. In the interim we will expect that where there is a requirement to update, enter or confirm information on the waste tracking service, for example when waste is collected or it arrives at a waste receiving site, this will need to be done as soon as possible but, in any case, within 2 working days.

We appreciate there will always be instances where real time recording will not be possible, such as in areas where there is poor wifi connectivity or where waste is being collected from sites that do not allow electronic devices.  In these instances, the requirement to record information ‘as soon as possible’ but in any case, within 2 working days, would remain.

Recording processes

This is the response to Questions 29 to Question 34 of the consultation.

We will continue to test the IT service with users as it is developed to ensure its design makes it easy for people to enter information at the right times but in general our approach will be as follows:

There will be a single process to record hazardous and non-hazardous waste movements and activities within the UK, including a requirement for preliminary information about waste movements to be entered onto the digital waste tracking service before the waste is moved but with a maximum timeframe being considered to support effective regulation.  This will generate a unique reference associated with that movement.

The person or organisation arranging the waste movement will enter the preliminary information to generate the unique reference. We think in most cases this will generally be a waste carrier on behalf of a waste producer.

The waste carrier and waste receiving site will need to update details as necessary using the unique reference and confirm their part of the waste movement, as soon as reasonably possible but in any case, within 2 working days.

For Green List Waste exports, preliminary information will be required up to 3 working days in advance of the waste shipment beginning.  The person arranging the shipment will be responsible for entering this information.  3 working days will apply to shipments from England and Wales, but the other nations are considering a shorter timeframe.  There will also be a maximum time limit for submitting this information to prevent users entering records too far in advance of the movement taking place, as this could prevent regulators being able to target inspections of shipments. 

The waste tracking service will be able to generate an ‘Annex VII’ form from the information provided and this must travel with the waste.  Alternatively, exporters can use their own separate Annex VII forms but if they choose to do this, there will be a requirement to record the waste tracking service record number on it and to ensure the information on the form matches that on the waste tracking service.  This may mean producing an appendix which contains the additional information such as container number, point of exit from the UK etc.

The only exception to this is where estimated values for shipment date and quantity of waste have been entered onto the digital waste tracking record or where the carrier details were previously unknown.  In this case, the Annex VII forms travelling with the waste must reflect the actual information and the digital waste tracking record must be updated with these actual values no more than 2 working days after the shipment begins.

For Green List Waste imports, in a change to the process set out in the consultation, we will not be requiring any information to be entered onto the waste tracking service about waste being imported into the UK until that waste arrives at its first waste receiving site in the UK.  This could be an interim facility prior to the waste going somewhere for its intended final recovery.

Regardless, the operator of the first waste receiving site will be required to check the details on the Annex VII which would be accompanying the waste.  If they are the final recovery facility for the waste, then the operator would complete Section 14 of the Annex VII form.  If they are not the final recovery facility for the waste, then the operator would leave this blank. 

Unless the waste facility operator is also the consignee (meaning, the importer) then they must pass the Annex VII information to the consignee who will be required to enter all the details from the Annex VII form exactly as they are, onto the waste tracking service.  The timescales for this are to be determined but it is likely that it will be in line with other waste tracking requirements meaning, as soon as reasonably practical but in any case, within 2 working days.

Season tickets

This is the response to Question 35 of the consultation.

Responders to the consultation raised concerns about the perceived burden of the new requirements on those who are regularly moving the same types of waste between the same locations and waste holders.  Examples given included the collection of washroom waste and the movements of sludge in the wastewater sector.

We are committed to there being a simple way to record frequent regular movements of the same types of waste between the same parties within the UK which does not involve individual records for every movement. We will test options for this with users as part of the digital development.

Roles and responsibilities

This is the response to Questions 36 and 37 of the consultation.

Most of the concerns raised with our proposals for waste holders’ roles and responsibilities were regarding a producer’s level of competence and ability to classify waste.

We understand that in many cases a producer will seek help from someone in the waste industry to complete existing waste records including the classification of the waste. Meaning, choose the right European Waste Catalogue six-digit code and any other codes or chemical properties that are relevant.

However, producers are the ones in the best position to inform that person about what their waste is in general terms and how it has been generated.  This is crucial information to help a third party determine the waste classification and complete a waste tracking service record accurately on their behalf.  Waste producers are also subject to the waste duty of care and are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their waste has been handled appropriately. 

We intend to require that waste producers who use a third party such as a waste carrier or broker to enter waste tracking service records on their behalf, will need to confirm that the details that have been entered are correct to the best of their knowledge. Meaning, the general description of the waste is correct as well as the producer details, collection address, collection dates, times, and waste volumes for example.  We will test with users the best way or ways to obtain this confirmation. 

Requirements for the digitally excluded

This is the response to Questions 38, 39 and 40 of the consultation.

We recognise the concerns raised in response to the consultation regarding the potential for abuse of any alternative waste tracking provisions, however our legal powers for waste tracking require us to either exempt those who are digitally excluded from the need to track their waste or provide an alternative mechanism.  We believe that an alternative mechanism is better than not obtaining the information at all.  The environmental regulators across the UK will continue to develop what this mechanism should be.

Many responders noted the risk of having a postal element as part of the alternative provisions and we shall bear this in mind.  Now that we have reviewed what information is to be recorded by operators of waste receiving sites when waste is received (see section ‘Waste treatment and end state’) then it may be that a telephone service to update records will be sufficient.

The principles for developing the alternative mechanism remain that:

• digitally excluded individuals will be required to provide the same information as other users of the waste tracking service.
• digitally excluded individuals will need to register as a digitally excluded user via the alternative mechanism provided and give details of any relevant waste site permissions held - this information will then be loaded into the waste tracking service (likely by the regulator) so that the details are available for other waste tracking service users to select in the service when necessary.
• those registering as a digitally excluded user will need to provide specified information and evidence as to why they consider themselves to be digitally excluded.

Data access, data retention and sensitive information

This is the response to Questions 41 to Question 45 of the consultation.

Data access

Any data that is made available to the public will be at an aggregated level like existing waste data sets that are widely available, for example the Waste Data Interrogator in England, StatsWales or the Scotland’s Environment Web.  This will not contain any personal information.

In the consultation we asked whether waste producers should be able to see information about the end state of their waste. There was a high level of agreement to this proposal and most suggestions supported producers being able to see what happened to their waste at the general level of ‘recycled’ or ‘landfilled’ etc.  As previously mentioned, it is difficult to track a specific load of waste from a specific waste producer once this gets to a waste treatment facility or waste transfer station.  However, a waste receiving site will only be authorised to carry out a specific set of activities according to the conditions of the authorisation they hold. Therefore, as detailed in the ‘Waste treatment and end state’ section above, when waste arrives at a waste receiving site the operator will be required to record on the waste tracking service record what the intended waste management method will be.  We expect that this will be what most waste producers will be able to see in terms of the waste’s end state.

In general, only those involved in a waste movement will be able to see the specific details about that movement. 

Officers within the environmental regulators will have access to detailed waste movement information to support their compliance and enforcement activities but there will be different levels of access and oversight dependent on the roles of the officers concerned. 

Some responders to the consultation did not understand why tax authorities would need access to waste tracking information.  This is because tax authorities are responsible for the compliance and enforcement of rules relating to the collection of landfill tax.  We will therefore need to share data from the waste tracking service with them, but we will ensure that this is shared in accordance with relevant data protection legislation.

Some concerns were raised about the role of local authorities and their access to detailed waste tracking information, particularly where local authorities operate commercial waste activities and could therefore gain a competitive advantage.  We acknowledge this concern and the broad range of activities local authorities undertake with regards to waste, including that of strategic waste planning authorities. We shall undertake further work to determine what information different functions of local authorities require to perform their statutory duties and decide on a process for enabling them access to that information in a way that will not unfairly disadvantage others or unfairly advantage local authorities.

Data retention

We have reviewed the data retention proposals and have revised them as follows.

Full data in individual waste tracking records will be kept in line with existing legal requirements for record keeping.  Therefore, full records relating to non-hazardous waste will be retained on the waste tracking service for two years, records relating to hazardous waste (or non-hazardous waste which contains POPs) will be kept for three years and records relating to Green List Waste imports or exports will also be retained for three years.  Where records contain information about both hazardous and non-hazardous waste, these will be retained on the service for the longer period of three years.

However, we do intend to seek further views from stakeholders as to whether it would be simpler to keep all types of records on the waste tracking service for 3 years.

Once the relevant time has passed, all personal data contained in these records shall be deleted and any remaining non-personal data, for example information about waste types, business data etc will be retained for several purposes including future statistical use, investigation of an environmental incident or landfill tax investigation.  This data will be held in accordance with the individual data retention policies of the environment agency concerned.

Sensitive information

Most responders to the consultation question on our proposals for managing sensitive information agreed with the suggested approach.  Working with some of the responders, we have identified examples of the specific waste types and sites where we will need to have enhanced access controls so we will continue to refine the proposals further with users and interested parties as the development of the service progresses.

Offences, enforcement, and regulatory functions

This is the response to Questions 46, 47 and 48 of the consultation.

We understand that this change to a digital form of recording waste movements will impact many people and time will be needed for people to become familiar with the new processes and the information they are required to input on the service.

As such the initial focus of environmental regulators as the service beds in will generally be on education and supporting people to comply with the new service. If, after education and guidance has been provided someone continues to fail to comply, then further enforcement options will be considered.

In terms of the civil sanctions which should be available for each of the offences, we have decided that to enable regulators to apply the most proportionate and effective response to an offence, both fixed and variable monetary penalties should be available as enforcement options for all the proposed offences.

In line with most respondents to the consultation question as to whether there will be a maximum limit for variable monetary penalties (VMP), we do not feel it is necessary to set a specific limit in the secondary legislation.  Instead, the regulators will need to determine the limit based upon several factors which will be set out in the legislation.  These will include environmental impact (or potential for impact), culpability of the organisation and or the person involved, and history of non-compliance.  This is in line with the regulators existing environmental enforcement policies.  In Scotland, other existing legislation ^{[footnote 3]} will limit a VMP to £40,000.

Existing offences and sanctions for not following the duty of care requirements (meaning, the requirements of Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990) will remain, including the ability for local authorities in England and Wales to issue fixed penalty notices to those householders who fail to comply with their duty of care requirements to ensure their waste is being passed to an authorised person such as an appropriately licenced waste carrier.

Charges

This is the response to Question 49 to Question 52 of the consultation.

There will be a service charge associated with use of the waste tracking service which will cover the ongoing costs of running the service and any further development or improvements that are needed.

The service charge will be an annual flat fee in the region of approximately £20 per year.

The service charge will need to be paid by those who are creating or editing waste tracking records.  Those who are required to just confirm information that has been entered on their behalf, for example waste producers, or those who just want to view records they have been involved in, will not need to pay the charge.

The costs of enforcing the legal requirements relating to the waste tracking service will not be included in the charge.

Regulators will consult separately on any changes to charges for their compliance work for certain types of waste, for example for hazardous waste.

Implementation

This is the response to Question 53 of the consultation.

The development of the digital IT service is well underway, and we are actively testing the service as it is being built with members of our user panel who have signed up from all areas of the waste industry. 

We are currently working towards:

In 2024 the waste tracking service will be publicly available to users on a voluntary basis – this is likely to happen in phases with specific groups of users being invited to use the service over time.

From April 2025 legislation will come into force across the UK, subject to approval across all four legislatures and after parliamentary approval via an affirmative statutory instrument.  The requirements of the regulations will be mandatory from this point and service charges will also be payable.

Costs, savings, and impact assessment

This is the response to Questions 54, 55 and 56 of the consultation.

In response to our consultation questions about likely costs and savings for users from the introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking, the general theme was that responders could not accurately estimate any figures until further details were known. 

We will continue to assess the costs and benefits of our proposals and will publish a final impact assessment when we lay the secondary legislation in summer 2024.

1. Sections 34CA and 34CB of the 1990 Act, as inserted by section 58 of the Environment Act 2021 and Articles 5G and 5H of the 1997 Order, as inserted by section 59 of the Environment Act 2021 ↩

2. The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2009 ↩

3. Schedule 2, Chapter 1, 1(4) of The Environmental Regulations (Enforcement Measures) (Scotland) Order 2015 ↩