Once fully implemented the digital waste tracking service will require certain information about waste movements to be entered before the movement, followed by confirmation that a waste carrier has collected it and confirmation that it has been received at a waste receiving site.

If these confirmations are not provided, then this will highlight to regulators that this waste may have been ‘lost’ and potentially mismanaged. They can then act accordingly to investigate this.

This transparency and near real time data will reduce the opportunities for organised waste criminals to operate; making it much harder to commit waste crime such as fly-tipping.

Defra is working with the four nations representatives and regulatory bodies to consistently and continuously engage with stakeholders on the development of digital waste tracking, both in the waste industry and software development sectors and with our colleagues in local councils. Timelines and information can be found on this gov.uk webpage - Digital waste tracking service - GOV.UK. Information will be made available as the service develops.

Once fully implemented the digital waste tracking service will require certain information about waste movements to be entered before the movement, followed by confirmation that a waste carrier has collected it and confirmation that it has been received at a waste receiving site.

If these confirmations are not provided, then this will highlight to regulators that this waste may have been ‘lost’ and potentially mismanaged. They can then act accordingly to investigate this.

This transparency and near real time data will reduce the opportunities for organised waste criminals to operate; making it much harder to commit waste crime such as fly-tipping.

Digital waste tracking is one of the major structural reforms being implemented under the Waste Crime Action Plan to design waste crime out of the system and will apply to waste operators in all areas of the UK. Defra is leading the delivery of the Action Plan, working closely with the Environment Agency (EA) as the national lead for waste crime, alongside HMRC, the Home Office, police forces and local authorities, ensuring coordinated action.

The EA is working diligently with Defra and the other regulators and governments of the four nations to engage with the waste industry, local authorities and affected parties. This is in addition to working to develop a range of measures that cover preventative actions, faster identification of illegal activity and robust enforcement actions to maximise the potential of Digital Waste Tracking and combat waste crime across the country.

The Environment Agency (EA) is working with their internal compliance and enforcement teams and external partners to ensure we maximise the potential of Digital Waste Tracking to tackle waste crime. They are developing a range of measures that cover preventative actions, faster identification of illegal activity and robust enforcement actions.

The EA also hosts the Joint Unit for Waste Crime with partners including police forces, HMRC and the National Crime Agency, which is aimed at targeting illegal waste sites, illegal dumping, and related financial fraud. The Government is represented on the oversight board for the unit by Defra officials.

Once fully implemented, the digital waste tracking service will require certain information about waste movements to be entered before the movement, followed by confirmation that a waste carrier has collected it and confirmation that it has been received at a waste receiving site.

If these confirmations are not provided, then this will highlight to regulators that this waste may have been ‘lost’ and been mismanaged through fly-tipping, deliberate misdescription or through an illegal waste site. We are working closely with software providers to enable seamless data integration via APIs, reducing manual input, and improving efficiency.

The Environment Agency ensures that water companies are properly monitoring discharges to the environment. It analyses Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) data from all water companies to assess compliance and, where appropriate, take enforcement action. This approach applies to Yorkshire Water for Palterton Main Road Combined Sewer Overflow and to Severn Trent for South Normanton Sewage Treatment Works.

Subject to parliamentary time, we expect to introduce secondary legislation mandating digital waste tracking before the prorogation of this Parliament.

The Environment Act 2021 requires all water companies, including Severn Trent, to publish near real time Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) data for all storm overflows. EDM installation follows specifications set out in the CIWEM (Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management) Event Duration Monitoring Good Practice Guide to ensure robust data quality.

The Government has consulted on strengthening penalties for water company offences. This could include strengthened monitoring requirements and clearer enforcement mechanisms to give the Environment Agency new tools to respond where defined monitoring failures occur at overflow locations.

The Environment Agency (EA) has undertaken inspections of Thames Water sewage treatment works at East Shefford, Winterbourne, Hamstead Marshall and Hungerford. It has also assessed Event Duration Monitoring data from these sites and completed Event Duration Monitoring flow data assessments.

Winterbourne, Hamstead Marshall and Hungerford sewage treatment works had no permit breaches caused by erroneous flow monitoring data. East Shefford sewage treatment works had a breach relating to flow monitoring systems and missing flow data which will be enforced against in line with the EA’s Enforcement and Sanctions Policy.

Defra has made good progress on implementing Digital Waste Tracking.

As announced in July 2025 Defra is implementing digital waste tracking through a phased approach beginning with a service for permitted waste receiving site operators.

• This service is now live for selected software developers and permitted waste receiving site operators to test the service and provide feedback.
• In spring 2026 the service will be available publicly to software developers and all permitted site operators to submit information on a voluntary basis.
• In April Defra plans to lay the legislation to support this first phase, and this will come into force in October 2026.
• The service will then be further developed to encompass full end to end waste movement information and expanded to other waste operators from April 2027.

The Digital Waste Tracking Service goes live from April 2026 for waste receivers, with requirements to digitally track waste received becoming mandatory in October 2026.

Waste operators currently use multiple systems – some paper based and others digital - to collect certain elements of waste tracking data. By introducing digital waste tracking, data will be collected centrally in near real time, making it much more difficult for rogue operators to compete in the industry and commit waste crime.

As part of our user research, it has been shown that the large majority of local authority waste disposal and waste collection authorities use third party contractors to manage waste in their areas, even if they are the holder of the environmental permit. As such it is difficult to quantify the number of local authorities that currently run their services in-house.

From April 2027, subject to funding, Digital Waste Tracking will onboard other waste operators including carriers which will provide an end to end view of how waste moves through the system.

From October 2026, there will be mandatory requirements on permitted or licensed operators, installations and mobile plant that receive waste to create a digital record of waste they receive, and to then enter it onto the Digital Waste Tracking Service.

We recognise that waste can also be received under authorisations that are issued by regulators to ensure compliance, other than licenses or permits, such as registered exemptions. We will consider over the next few months whether there are any specific sectors or categories of operation within this group that can be sensibly included in mandatory requirements to create a digital record and enter it onto the Digital Waste Tracking Service alongside permitted and licenced operators.

Waste handled illegally and poor performing waste sites can damage the environment, blight local communities, for example by causing odour and pest issues, undermine legitimate businesses, and is estimated to cost the UK economy one billion pounds per year.

Digital waste tracking will connect fragmented systems, providing comprehensive near real time data on the movement of a load of waste from production to disposal. Digitising record keeping will give clearer oversight for regulators, making it easier for waste producers and legitimate waste companies to comply with reporting requirements; and harder for rogue operators to compete in the industry and commit waste crime, from fly tipping to illegal waste sites to illegal waste exports.

From October 2026, there will be mandatory requirements on permitted or licensed operators, installations and mobile plant that receive waste to create a digital record of waste they receive, and to then enter it onto the Digital Waste Tracking Service.

The waste industry involves a large number and complex array of operators. Subject to funding, additional aspects will be added to the service from 2027, drawing from our testing arising from Phase 1 of the service when it becomes available from April 2026. This will allow us to adjust as we move towards a more complete end-to-end waste tracking service.

The department has had no recent direct discussions with local authorities in Slough or the Thames Valley region on the implementation of mandatory digital waste tracking. Information is shared with stakeholders including local authorities via our Circular Economy newsletter. Through this newsletter we have invited organisations to sign up to the project’s user panel to get involved in testing of the developing service and provide feedback.

Defra plans to launch the digital waste tracking service from April 2026. Industry working groups are beginning next month and increased engagement is planned through webinars, information published on GitHub (an online platform where information and software code can be shared openly), and through inviting users to begin using the developing service from Autumn as part of our private beta phase of development.

Cefas cannot insist that specific assessments are undertaken to support disposal licence applications as Cefas holds no regulatory power in that regard. Cefas can instead advise that certain assessments are undertaken or that certain licensing decisions are made, but decision-makers are not obliged to adhere to Cefas recommendations. Cefas does not collect data on how often certain assessments are recommended, however there are likely no examples of a bioassay or other ecotoxicological assessment being recommended in the past five years. Whilst such assessments can be recommended in line with the OSPAR guidelines, there may be significant costs associated for disposal applicants and there are currently no such assessments which have been validated by the MMO. Necessary assessments are still undertaken to determine if material is suitable for disposal at sea. The MMO assess applications on a case by case basis, and will request specific information from applicants where relevant and necessary to making a decision. Cefas is exploring the use of potentially more cost-effective assessments such as Microtox.