Digital Waste Tracking is a government online service that records waste as it moves from the place it was produced to the place it is dealt with. It is meant to replace older ways of recording waste movements, including paper notes, and it is arriving in phases. The first phase started on 1 October 2026. The second, for the businesses that collect and carry waste, is planned for October 2027.
In short
- Since 1 October 2026, permitted sites in England and Wales that receive waste must record every load on the service.
- Receiving sites in Scotland and Northern Ireland are due to follow from January 2027.
- Waste collectors, including washroom service companies, are due to have to use it from October 2027.
- Offices, schools, shops and other businesses that produce waste do not need to sign up to anything now.
- Keep your waste transfer notes. The duty of care rules have not changed.
What Digital Waste Tracking is
The service gives regulators a clearer picture of where waste goes. For each load, the receiving site records what the waste is, with its codes, who carried it and how it is being handled. The aim is to make it harder for waste to disappear into illegal dumping, and easier for legitimate operators to show where waste has gone.
The timetable
Phase 1: receiving sites, from October 2026
The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 came into force on 1 October 2026. Since then, the operator of a permitted waste facility in England has had to enter details of each load of controlled waste it receives. Government guidance says the same start date applies to receiving sites in Wales, and that sites in Scotland and Northern Ireland are due to follow from January 2027.
A few sites are left out, such as household waste recycling centres taking waste from residents. Operators who cannot use digital services can keep written records instead.
Phase 2: collectors and carriers, from October 2027
The government’s published timeline has a second phase for waste carriers, brokers, dealers and collectors. The plan is to open the service to an invited group of collectors from autumn 2026, to all collectors from spring 2027, and to make it mandatory for waste collectors from October 2027. Washroom service companies collect waste from their customers’ sites, so they fall into this group.
The detail of phase 2 has not yet been set out in law. The government’s impact assessment says the specifics of the phase 2 service have not been confirmed, so the requirements, and possibly the date, could still change.
What it means for your business
Nothing to sign up for now
If you produce waste and a contractor collects it, you do not have to register for the service or enter any records. Phase 1 puts the duty on receiving sites only. The government has not yet said what, if anything, waste producers will need to do in phase 2.
Your paperwork stays the same
Your duty of care has not changed. Each transfer of your waste still needs a waste transfer note, or an annual season ticket, and you still need to keep it for at least two years. The government’s impact assessment says Digital Waste Tracking will replace the current requirement for written transfer notes for non-hazardous waste, but that has not happened yet. Until the rules change, keep filing your notes as you do now. Our guide to offensive waste and your duty of care explains what they must contain.
Clearer records later
Once collectors are on the service, there should be a clearer trail from your building to the site that treats your waste. It is worth asking your supplier how it will share those records with you.
Another 2027 change: carrier permits
Separate regulations made in July 2026 change how waste carriers are authorised in England. From 22 July 2027, carrier, broker and dealer registration is replaced by environmental permits. Existing upper-tier carriers switch when their current registration is next due for renewal, so for a while some suppliers will show you a registration and others a permit. Your duty to check that whoever takes your waste is authorised stays the same.
What we are doing
Every visit we make is already logged by the driver, with the time, what was serviced and a photo of each unit. Those records sit in your online account alongside your waste transfer notes. We are preparing our systems so that our collection records can go to the national service when collectors are required to use it, and we will tell customers what, if anything, they need to do once the phase 2 rules are confirmed.
Checklist
- Keep your current waste transfer notes for at least two years.
- Ask your washroom supplier for its upper-tier carrier registration, and which permit it expects to hold after July 2027.
- Ask how it is preparing for Digital Waste Tracking.
- Check that you can see a record of each collection from your site.
- Come back to this guide when the phase 2 rules are published.
Sources
- Developing the digital waste tracking service (GOV.UK)
- Digital waste tracking: check if you need to report the waste you receive (GOV.UK)
- The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Introduction of mandatory Digital Waste Tracking: impact assessment (legislation.gov.uk)
- Waste duty of care code of practice (GOV.UK)
- The Environmental Permitting (Waste Controlling or Transporting) and Relevant Functions of Primary Authorities (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2026 (legislation.gov.uk)
