Every load reported to Defra. Checked before it goes.
Recorded, checked against Defra's rules, approved by your site, filed inside the window — with the evidence kept.
Waste48 is listed on GOV.UK's Report receipt of waste: choose a software provider page. No weighbridge integration needed.
- Carrier reg
- CBDU987654
- EWC
- 17 09 04 · mixed C&D
- Net weight
- 4.62 t
- Checked by Vera (AI)
- Nothing to fix
- Waste tracking ID
- 26SEY3EE3
Defra's production-approval test scenarios passed against Defra's own environment — hazardous and POPs included.
Production credentials issued by Defra for the Receipt of Waste API.
Weighbridge integrations needed to be compliant. Type the ticket weight, or upload the export your weighbridge software already produces.
The disposal site records the load. Not the carrier.
Digital waste tracking in England starts with the disposal site. When a load arrives, your site reports what it received and Defra returns a waste tracking ID. That ID is the record.
| Who | Permitted waste sites that receive waste — transfer stations, treatment sites, metal recyclers, skip yards, landfill, household waste recycling centres. |
|---|---|
| What | For each load: the carrier, the waste codes, the quantity, and any hazardous or POPs detail — sent to Defra as one receipt. |
| When | By the end of the second working day after the load arrives. Waste48 shows the clock on every unfiled receipt. We call it the 48. |
| If not | Non-reporting is a breach under the Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026, with penalties (a £1,000 fixed penalty, uncapped variable penalties, compliance notices) and publication of enforcement information. The duty sits with the site — carriers' own reporting duties don't begin until October 2027. |
Already reporting with another tool and it's slower than the paperwork it replaced? Switching means nothing to migrate — the records already live with Defra. Talk to the team.
Recorded, checked, approved, filed — in the time it takes to sign a transfer note.
Waste48 has two built-in AI assistants, and we gave them names so you know which one did what. Reg records each load and tells you what's missing. Vera checks the completed receipt against Defra's rules and sends it. Reg cannot send and Vera cannot change a record — that separation is built into the software, not left to habit. A person at your site can sit between them and approve every receipt.
- Reg (AI) · on arrival
Record the load
Carrier registration, waste code, quantity, any hazardous or POPs detail. Typed in, or read from the weighbridge export. Anything missing is named in plain words — "no waste code on load 3".
- Vera (AI) · before it goes
Checked and verified by AI before submission
Every receipt is checked against Defra's rules and against sense: does the code match the description, is the weight plausible for the container, is the carrier registered. Faults are named, never hidden.
- Your site · optional
A person approves
Turn on human review and nothing is sent until someone at your site taps approve. Every receipt, or only the ones Vera flags. Your record, your call.
- Defra
Filed. ID stored against the load.
Vera submits inside the window. Defra returns the waste tracking ID; it is kept with the load and its full history. No ID means not filed — and the load stays on your list until it is.
Two AI assistants. One job each. Neither can do the other's.
They are software, not people — parts of Waste48 that we named so a receipt's history reads plainly: "Reg recorded it, Vera checked and sent it, Dave approved it." Here is what each one does and, just as important, what each one cannot do.
- Does
- Builds the record for each load as it arrives: carrier registration, waste codes, quantity, hazardous or POPs detail. Scores how complete it is and names what is missing in plain words. Takes typed entries and CSV uploads.
- Never
- Sends anything to Defra. There is no route from Reg to Defra in the software. Never guesses a value — unknown stays unknown and is flagged. Never edits a record after it has been filed.
- Does
- Checks the completed receipt against Defra's own rules and against sense — code matches description, weight plausible for the container, carrier registered. Sends it inside the window, stores the waste tracking ID that comes back, and keeps checking that everything sent was confirmed.
- Never
- Creates or changes a load. Sends without your site's approval when human review is on. Sends the same load twice. Marks anything "filed" unless Defra returned an ID.
Track record: every test Defra sets, passed by Reg and Vera.
Before Defra lists a provider, its software must complete 14 production-approval test scenarios against Defra's own integration environment. Reg recorded and Vera filed all 14 — hazardous, POPs, missing carrier registration, missing consignment codes included — with 12 accepted and 2 correctly refused by Defra, exactly as the scenarios require.
Every one of the test records Defra asked for was submitted by Reg and Vera, and Defra listed Waste48 on that basis. The evidence of each run is kept, byte for byte.
Built with 30 years' experience in the waste industry.
Designed and tested by people with thirty years in the waste industry, so it works at the weighbridge as well as in the office.
All fourteen scenarios. No exemptions.
Before Defra lists a provider it must pass fourteen production-approval scenarios: normal loads, hazardous, POPs, missing carrier registration, missing consignment codes. Waste48 passed all fourteen against Defra's integration environment.
An error in the rules, found before launch.
Building against the published API rules, we identified an error in them. Defra confirmed it and corrected the national specification. We mention it only because that is the attention a legal record deserves.
Every submission kept, byte for byte.
What was sent, when, and what came back — stored unaltered. Corrections are new versions; the original is never overwritten. When an officer asks, the answer is a download, not a promise.
Defra has confirmed that the software providers below meet the digital waste tracking requirements.GOV.UK, Report receipt of waste: choose a software provider — the page on which Waste48 is listed. The same page says buying software is at your own risk; Defra does not endorse individual providers.
Works with what you already have.
| Available | A site with no weighbridge softwareRecord the load, type the weight from the ticket, file. Under a minute a load once you've done three. |
|---|---|
| Available | A site that keeps its own spreadsheetKeep it in your own layout. Upload it to Waste48 — not to Defra — and Vera checks every row, files the ones that pass through the API, and tells you exactly which didn't and why. |
| Coming | A site with a weighbridge and a printerPhotograph the ticket and the weight and reference are read into the receipt for you to confirm before it goes. In development — not yet available. |
| Coming | Permit headroom and sense checksTonnage received against your permit's annual limits by stream, and a guided process when something arrives your permit doesn't cover. In development — not yet available. |
A fifteen-minute walk-through.
Tell us about your site and the team will come back with a time. We'll file one receipt start to finish on your kind of load, and answer the October questions straight.
Pricing is agreed with the team, in writing, before anything is set up. Nothing on this page is a price.
Or email hello@waste48.co.uk.
Plain-English guides to the October rules.
- Digital waste tracking deadline: what changes on 1 October 2026
- What is a waste tracking ID?
- How a small site reports receipt of waste — no office system, no IT department
- Do you need your weighbridge connected to report receipts of waste?
- What non-reporting actually costs: penalties under the 2026 regulations
- Who is liable — the carrier or the site?
The questions sites are asking.
What is a waste tracking ID?
The reference Defra issues when a receipt of waste is reported. One per movement. It is the site's proof that it recorded the load, and a carrier can quote it. Waste48 stores it against the load and only ever shows an ID Defra actually returned — "filed" means filed. Full guide.
Is it really 48 hours?
The rule is the end of the second working day after the load arrives. Over a weekend that is longer than 48 hours; on a Thursday afternoon it can be shorter than you think. Waste48 runs the statutory clock, not a fixed 48 — the name is a reminder, not the rule. Worked examples.
Can I just use Defra's spreadsheet?
Yes. Defra provides a free receipt-of-waste template spreadsheet for sites that don't have API software — you download it, complete the mandatory fields, and upload it; you must use Defra's template, not your own, and a new one for each upload. It is on GOV.UK under Report receipt of waste, section "Spreadsheet".
Where it stops being enough: nothing checks the rows before you upload, nothing tells you which load a rejection refers to, the waste tracking IDs come back separately from your records, and the working-day clock is yours to watch. Waste48 exists for the site that has tried that for a fortnight. If the template suits you, use it — that is an honest answer.
Do I need my weighbridge connected?
No. You need the weight and the reference on the receipt. Type it, or upload the export your weighbridge software already produces. Connecting the weighbridge directly is a later conversation; it is not needed to be compliant.
Why would Defra reject a receipt?
The commonest reasons: no carrier registration number, or hazardous waste with no consignment code. Both may be absent — but only with a reason stated on the receipt. Vera asks for the reason before the receipt can be sent, so the rejection never happens. Full guide.
Something turned up in a load that wasn't declared. Now what?
Attach it to the load it most likely came from, photograph it, and amend the receipt within the correction window. Waste48 keeps the original and the correction together with the reason. Declaring what you found protects the site; the duty to describe the waste correctly sits with whoever sent it.
Who is liable — the carrier or the site?
From October 2026 the duty to report receipts sits with the receiving site. Carriers' own digital reporting duties begin in October 2027. Until then the site's receipt is the record — and it names the carrier. Full guide.
Is Waste48 "Defra approved"?
There is no such thing as Defra approval of a provider, and we won't say there is. Waste48 is listed on GOV.UK's Report receipt of waste: choose a software provider page, which states that Defra has confirmed the listed providers meet the digital waste tracking requirements. The same page says buying software is at your own risk. Choose on evidence; ours is above.