Three things Defra's provider list tells you — and three it doesn't

Published 2026-09-16 · England · Plain-English guide for permitted waste receiving sites

What the list tells you

1. The software can file. To be listed, a provider's software must complete Defra's production-approval test scenarios against Defra's integration environment — fourteen for receipt of waste, covering normal loads, hazardous, POPs, missing carrier registration and missing consignment codes. A listed provider has done that.
2. Defra has confirmed the requirements are met. The page's own words: Defra has confirmed that the software providers below meet the digital waste tracking requirements. That is the only thing the listing states.
3. The provider holds production credentials. Listing follows production onboarding, so a listed provider can submit real receipts, not just test ones.

What it does not tell you

1. Whether the provider is any good. The same page says buying software is at your own risk and that Defra is not responsible for liability arising from its use. No provider is "Defra approved", "Defra certified" or "the only" anything — if a provider says so, that is your first data point about them.
2. Whether the product exists yet. Some names on the list have no discoverable web presence. Some are weighbridge or ERP vendors adding reporting to an existing system; some are operators who built software for their own sites; some are new. Ask what is available today versus "coming".
3. What happens before a receipt is sent. Every listed provider passes Defra's schema check. A schema check stops a badly-formed record; it does not stop a wrong one. Whether anything checks the code against the description, the weight against the container, or the carrier against the register is up to the provider.

Questions to ask any provider

• Which of your features are available today, and which are in development? Will you put that in writing?
• What does the software check before a receipt goes to Defra, beyond Defra's own rules?
• Can a person at my site be required to approve receipts before they are sent?
• Where is the evidence kept — what was sent, when, what came back — and can I download it?
• Do I need a weighbridge integration to be compliant with you? (The answer should be no.)
• What happens to my records if I leave? (They live with Defra; the answer should be "nothing to migrate".)
• Who answers when a receipt is rejected at 4pm on a Friday?

How Waste48 answers them

Waste48 is listed on the GOV.UK page. It passed all fourteen production-approval scenarios and holds production credentials issued on 1 September 2026. Receipt filing, typed and CSV intake and byte-for-byte evidence are available now; photograph-the-ticket intake and permit headroom checks are in development and are labelled "coming" on this site. Two AI assistants do the work — Reg records, Vera checks and files — and neither can do the other's job. Pricing is agreed with the team in writing; nothing on this site is a price. Talk to the team.

Questions sites ask