Mandatory Digital Waste Tracking: Government Consultation Response Summary

The United Kingdom is preparing to implement a mandatory digital waste tracking service, replacing traditional waste transfer notes and consignment notes starting April 2025. Covering household, commercial, and industrial waste with some exceptions, the system aims to streamline waste management.

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 accordance with the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (for Great Britain) and the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 (for Northern Ireland) the waste tracking service will require recording information about the movements of controlled waste, including: household, commercial and industrial waste.

The introduction of a digital waste tracking service will replace the need for traditional waste transfer notes and hazardous waste consignment notes.

• In 2024, the waste tracking service will be publicly available to users on a voluntary basis.
• From April 2025, legislation will come into force across the UK. The requirements of the regulations will be mandatory from this point and service charges will also be payable.

Household, commercial and industrial waste will be tracked through the waste tracking service. Some specified exceptions apply, and tracking typically starts at the waste’s production site.

Extractive wastes like those from mines or quarries do not require tracking unless removed off-site.

Animal by-products, usually excluded from controlled waste, might not be mandated for tracking, but there’s consideration for enabling tracking functionality for those involved in their movements at a later stage.

For Green List Waste shipments, like non-hazardous waste exports or imports, Annex VII documentation will still accompany the waste so all parties in and outside of the UK can assess the waste. However, under the digital waste tracking reforms the details of the Annex VII will need to be entered onto the digital waste tracking service as well.

Any UK waste movement requiring a record as per existing laws will need a record on the UK waste tracking service once operational.

Waste tracking service records will be required when waste is (some exceptions to these will apply):

• passed to a different organisation or person.
• moved between sites operated by the same organisation, for example moving waste between different permitted waste sites operated by the same entity.
• 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.
• 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. Once 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. Following the implementation of mandatory digital waste tracking, separate hazardous waste returns will no longer be required.

Exceptions apply to the following:

• Household waste collected from domestic premises by local authorities. Waste tracking records for this waste will begin when it is taken into a waste receiving site.
• Household waste recycling centres (HWRCs). Operators of HWRCs will not need to record the receipt of waste from householders on the waste tracking service however they will need to record information about commercial business waste accepted onto sites and when waste is removed from a HWRC.
• Litter. A person or organisation collecting litter (including authorities collecting) 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, 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, digital waste tracking service records will not be required for the movement of the sample. It is likely that a weight or volume limit will be introduced for this exception.

Other potential exceptions

• 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.

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.

• The digital waste tracking service will replace the requirements for aggregated waste reporting such as hazardous waste returns or quarterly site returns.
• 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).

From April 2025 digital waste tracking legislation will come into force across the UK. 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.

In the interim it is expected that where there is a requirement to update, enter or confirm information on the waste tracking service, this will need to be done within 2 working days of when waste is collected, or arrives at a waste receiving site.

There will be a single process to record hazardous and non-hazardous waste movements and activities within the UK.

• The person or organisation arranging the waste movement will enter the preliminary information to generate the unique reference. Likely 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 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.

The waste tracking service will be able to generate an ‘Annex VII’ form from the information provided and this must travel with the waste. 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 within 2 working days of the shipment.

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 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 onto the waste tracking service within two working days.

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 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.

Data Retention:

• 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
• Records relating to Green List Waste imports or exports will also be retained for three years.

Government acknowledged 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 difficult. To mitigate this, Government is 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.

The initial focus of environmental regulators as the legislation imbeds will 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.

Both fixed and variable monetary penalties will be available as enforcement options for all the proposed offences.

There will not be a maximum limit on variable monetary penalties (VMP), the regulators will determine the limit based upon several factors which will be set out in the legislation. These will include environmental impact or potential 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 will limit a VMP to £40,000.

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 and it will need to be paid by those who are creating or editing waste tracking records.