Policy paper

Developing the digital waste tracking service

Updated 1 October 2026

Background 

The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland are committed to tackling waste crime. 

Waste crime and poor performing waste sites: 

• damage the environment 
• blight local communities 
• undermine legitimate businesses 
• cost the UK economy an estimated £1 billion per year 

Waste handled illegally also threatens our aspirations for a circular economy – a future where we reduce waste by keeping our resources in use for longer. 

By tackling criminal behaviour, we will not only prevent harm but also ensure resources are being properly recycled or recovered and fed back into the economy. 

We need to address the information gap that hinders the effective regulation and management of waste by introducing mandatory digital waste tracking. This will transform existing outdated systems for recording waste movements. 

In February 2025, in response to industry feedback, we announced the digital waste tracking service would be in place from April 2026. 

How digital waste tracking will help tackle waste crime 

Connecting systems and digitising record-keeping will make it: 

• easier for waste producers and legitimate waste companies to comply with reporting requirements 
• harder for rogue operators to commit waste crimes such as fly-tipping and illegal waste exports 

Delivering a service that captures information from waste receivers is the first step towards this. With access to individual waste load data, regulators at roadside checks will be able to quickly verify if waste is being delivered to a legitimate site. 

Through the digital records, regulators will also have access to better information about the carriers who have delivered the waste. This will enable more effective audits of the waste chain if there is a problem at a receiving site. 

Regulators will also be able to identify and act if a site is accepting: 

• greater volumes of waste than their permit allows 
• problematic waste types, which could cause local environmental issues if not managed appropriately 

This policy paper provides more detail on: 

• our approach to delivering the new service 
• who will need to comply with the requirements 
• expected timelines for each phase of delivery 

Our delivery approach 

The waste industry involves a large number and complex array of operators. This includes approximately: 

• 12,000 waste site operators 
• 150,000 registered waste exemption holders 
• 300,000 registered waste carriers, brokers and dealers 

These work across the UK in a wide variety of sectors with varying levels of digital capability. 

To design a stable, effective and user-friendly service, we need to build it incrementally. We’ll add new features as we learn from testing the service with users. This will allow us to refine and adjust our approach as we move towards a more complete end-to-end waste tracking service. 

Following assessment of the options and international best practice, the first phase focuses on waste receiving sites submitting data about the waste they receive. This includes waste containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs). We are planning to expand the service to other waste operators in the following phase. 

Benefits of our delivery approach 

Starting with a service for a smaller, more defined and identifiable group of users means we can: 

• more effectively engage and understand their needs and requirements 
• build an initial service that works for both businesses and regulators 

We expect this group to be more likely to have the digital capability to adapt to the changes, but we will explore this further through user research. 

We also have accurate information about the numbers of operators working under permits and licences. This contrasts with carriers, brokers, dealers or exemption holders, where people may have registered these but not be actively operating. 

We will therefore be able to accurately monitor information, enabling us to target communications and activity to ensure all licensed and permitted sites are using the service. 

Through the information provided by the receiving sites, we will also be able to get a more accurate understanding of the numbers of waste movements. This will help to inform the development of the digital service to ensure it is able to effectively accommodate the volume of transactions. 

New ways to submit data  

During user research, users reported that manually creating records on a GOV.UK style service was time-consuming and burdensome. This was largely due to the level of information required on a waste movement record. 

They also reported that prototypes designed to capture data uploaded from CSV files were difficult to use. Feedback suggested there are more waste organisations already using digital systems to track their waste than we previously thought. 

Application programming interface (API) 

From this feedback, we intend to deliver a solution that integrates with users’ existing software by automatically capturing data through an application programming interface (API). 

It is important for us to engage with companies that already use commercial software so we can better understand and enable an API driven approach. 

User research has shown that organisations using waste tracking software strongly advocate it due to its positive impact on their business. 

We will also be exploring and testing an alternative way for people to digitally provide their information. 

Alternative solution to using the API 

We are developing an alternative way to submit data using a spreadsheet for waste receivers who currently do not have waste tracking software. 

This will be a temporary solution to help waste receivers comply with regulations while they acquire software to track their waste digitally.  

We will keep this method under review and withdraw it when appropriate. We currently expect it to remain in place until at least October 2027. 

Support for digitally excluded users 

Every service the government builds should be as inclusive, legible and readable as possible. 

We will provide an alternative mechanism for those who meet the definition of a digitally excluded person. 

Exemptions 

Waste exemptions are not included as the first phase, as it only applies to permitted sites that receive waste. 

Waste exemptions will be included in a later phase. 

Green list waste exports and imports 

Tracking for organisations that handle green list waste (also known as Article 18 waste) will be built into a future phase of the service. 

Timelines  

The following dates are planned for the development of the digital service and accompanying legislation: 

Phase 1 (service for waste receivers): 

• from autumn 2025 – digital waste tracking service to be available to an invited group of waste receivers in increasing numbers (private beta phase) 
• from spring 2026 – digital waste tracking service to be available publicly for all permitted and licensed receiving site operators to use (public beta phase) 
• by summer 2026 – all nations to have laid secondary legislation to mandate the use of the service by receiving site operators from October 2026 
• from October 2026 – service mandatory for receiving site operators in England and Wales 
• January 2027 – service mandatory for receiving site operators in Northern Ireland and Scotland 

Phase 2 (service for waste carriers, brokers and dealers): 

• from autumn 2026 – digital waste tracking service to be available to an invited group of waste collectors in increasing numbers (private beta phase) 
• from spring 2027 – digital waste tracking service to be available publicly for all waste collectors (public beta phase) 
• from October 2027 – digital waste tracking service mandatory for waste collectors 

Further information 

You can find more information on the development of the digital waste tracking service in the: 

• government response to the implementation of mandatory digital waste tracking 
• circular economy newsletter