The questions waste sites get stuck on, answered one page each

Every guide here started as a question a real site asked. Each one is short enough to read on a phone at the gate, and links to where the rule comes from.

Your type of site

Digital waste tracking for skip hire yards and transfer stationsThe codes yards really take, R13 or D15, weighing by skip size, and a filled-in example.
Digital waste tracking for scrap metal yards and vehicle dismantlersThe codes yards take, R4 or R13, why batteries and ELVs need a consignment code, and an example.
Digital waste tracking for anaerobic digestion and biogas plantsManure, food and drinks waste codes, R3, and what the on-farm standard rules permit allows.
Digital waste tracking for composting sitesGreen waste codes, R3, open windrow or in-vessel, and a filled-in example.
Digital waste tracking for inert recycling, soil and quarry restoration17 05 04 and its hazardous twin, R5 or R10, muckaway by lorry type, and an example.
Digital waste tracking for waste wood recycling sitesThe wood codes and their hazardous twins, R3 or R13, and what SR2022 No 8 allows.
Digital waste tracking for WEEE treatment facilitiesElectricals and battery codes, which are hazardous, R4 or R13, and an example.
Digital waste tracking for tyre recycling and storage sites16 01 03 on every load, R3, R4 or R13, and turning a tyre count into a weight.
Hazardous waste sites: consignment notes and digital waste trackingConsignment notes carry on. Each note is its own record, with the code, HP codes and components.
Digital waste tracking for landfill sitesThe codes landfills take, D1 or D5, and turning a weighbridge ticket into a record.

Choosing and setting up

Digital waste tracking software compared: how to chooseDefra's free spreadsheet or software from the GOV.UK list: the questions to ask any provider.
Switching digital waste tracking softwareSoftware stopped, or want to move? Your 2 working days still run. How to move without sending a load twice.
Is there free digital waste tracking software?Yes: Defra's own spreadsheet, and some free plans. What free leaves out, and what Byrne costs.
No software is Defra approved: what the GOV.UK list meansDefra don't approve software. What the GOV.UK list means, how to check it, and what to ask.
The digital waste tracking checklist for 1 NovemberA month in: twelve checks, from the API code and late loads to the £26.
Digital waste tracking for consultants and TCMs managing several sitesWho registers, one API code per organisation, setting client sites up in one go.

Running it day to day

Do I still need waste transfer notes?Yes - paper carries on alongside the digital record. What changes and what doesn't.
Weighbridges and digital waste trackingNo new weighbridge needed. What Defra ask for, and how yards record weights.
Fines and penaltiesThe notices and penalties GOV.UK lists, and how sites stay clear of them.
The waste codes sites take most25 common EWC codes: how many sites took each in 2024, and the R and D codes they used.
Defra's template: every column explainedDefra's own definition for each column, and the formats their service refuses.
Free: check your Defra spreadsheet before you uploadPick your filled-in template; it lists every row Defra would refuse. Nothing leaves your computer.
Defra's waste tracking spreadsheet, or software?How Defra's template works, the formats that trip people up, and when software is less work.
Signing in to Defra's waste tracking serviceWhere to sign in, which account to use, and the sign-in problems sites hit most.
When Defra's service is down: what you must doWho to tell, the written record to keep, and the 7-day catch-up, from regulation 6.
Your EA quarterly return and digital waste trackingTwo separate duties. The deadlines, the form, and how the two records differ.
Phase 2 and your site: the Delivery IDWhat Defra's draft Phase 2 API means at your gate: a Delivery ID, or a reason there isn't one.
Councils and HWRCs: what digital waste tracking coversThe HWRC exclusion, what's still in, Wales, and how councils register.

Getting each load right

Is this my Defra API code? The numbers people send insteadThe support ID, the helpline number and six-digit numbers are not it. What the real one looks like.
The carrier's number isn't on your paperwork. Here's where to find it.Look the haulier up free on the public register by name or postcode, and the formats Defra accept.
Which R or D code am I? Recovery and disposal codes by type of siteR13, R12, R5, R4, R3, R10, D15 and D1 by type of site, and where your permit already lists yours.
EWC codes for your type of site, in plain EnglishThe waste codes each kind of site uses most, and how to spot a hazardous one.
Bank holidays and the two working days: every due date worked outChristmas, New Year, Easter and every 2027 bank holiday, worked out for each nation.
A load is wrong. How to put it right, and how long you haveBefore it's sent, after it's sent, and the two different deadlines GOV.UK give.
Scotland and Northern Ireland: digital waste tracking from January 2027Scotland: 1 January 2027, not October 2026. Northern Ireland: January 2027, DAERA say. Who is in, the charge, and what to do now.
I hold a waste exemption. Do I need digital waste tracking now?U and T exemptions and WEX numbers are not in the first phase, and no date is set. How to tell which you hold.

More guides

Is your site ready? A two-minute checkTen quick questions: what is ready, and the one fix for anything that isn't. Nothing you type is saved.
Check a waste carrier's licenceType a CBDU number or a business name: tier, what they're registered to do, and whether it's in date.
How to get your Defra API code, step by stepRegister your organisation and get the code, with a tick list.
What permitted sites must do from 1 October 2026The whole duty, with a source for every point.
Landspreading and mobile plantWhat counts as a site, and recording loads at several farms.
Spreading at several farmsSetting up each farm, and the same permit number on every load.
Scotland: what a permitted site needs before 1 January 2027SEPA, the Scottish deadlines and the £26.
Northern Ireland: digital waste tracking from January 2027What DAERA have said so far.
Phase 2 for carriers, skip hire, brokers and dealersWhat carriers will need, and the list to join.
For consultants and TCMsEvery client's loads on one screen, free for consultants.
Carriers, brokers and dealers in 2027, and where exemptions standPhase 2, and what is not known yet.
Straight answers for Byrne Waste Tracking customersLogging loads, sending them to Defra, cost and people.
Your first load, one box at a timeA walkthrough of the gate screen.
Loads sent to DefraReal numbers from the system, what changed this month, and a word from me.
Free permit checkLook your site up on the public register.

Want this done for you at the gate?

Byrne Waste Tracking runs in the browser on a phone at the gate, with nothing to install. It remembers your carriers and their numbers, offers the waste codes and R or D codes your site uses, checks each load against Defra's rules before it saves, and sends it to Defra automatically once you've linked your Defra account. Byrne Digital Solutions is listed on GOV.UK as a compatible software provider.

14 days free, then from £89 a month per site, no contract, and there's no card to enter until you start it. No setup fee, and you see your price before you pay anything.

A site in Scotland or Northern Ireland that joins before 1 January 2027 pays nothing until 1 January 2027. Scotland starts that day and DAERA say January 2027 for Northern Ireland.

Got a waste consultant? Ask them about Byrne first: they can introduce you, your site is set up for you, and it shows on their Clients screen. How that works.

Create a free account Log a pretend load first

Already a customer? Open the app. Stuck on something here? Email wilf@byrnedigitalsolutions.co.uk - email is the quickest way to reach me, and I reply the same working day.