Do you have to report the waste you receive? GOV.UK's answer, and the deadlines behind it
Published 6 October 2026 · every legal claim below checked against the source on 6 October 2026
What changed
GOV.UK's readiness page for the new duty was updated on 25 September 2026, six days before the start. It is the page a site operator searches for, and it answers the question in its title: do you have to report the waste you receive, and if so, how and by when. It is published jointly by Defra and the Welsh Government.
Its answer is wider than many sites expect. If you are licensed or permitted to receive controlled waste in England or Wales, every load you take in is entered in the Report receipt of waste service. That includes a permitted site that sits where the waste is produced. Most household, commercial and industrial waste is controlled waste; the page points to the Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 if you are unsure about yours.
The page also sets out what goes in each record (the movement, carrier and receiver details, the waste classification code, the recovery or disposal code, and the POPs and hazardous data where they apply) and says plainly that the old paperwork does not stop. Waste transfer notes, Annex VII forms, hazardous consignment notes, permit waste returns and consignee returns all continue alongside the new record, until further notice.
Who it binds
The operator of a licensed or permitted site that receives controlled waste, in England and in Wales. The page lists every permitted operation, installation and mobile plant, and a permitted site located where the waste is produced.
Two groups are out. A household waste recycling centre in Wales does not use the service at all. In England, household waste brought by residents to such a centre is out, and nothing else at that site is.
A third group follows a different route rather than being excused. If it is not practical for you to use digital tools because of age, disability or location, or your business is run entirely by practising members of a religious order whose beliefs rule out electronic records, you are digitally excluded. You then apply to your regulator for a digitally excluded number, make a written record of every load within two working days, put the number on each record, and keep the records for at least three years. Preferring paper, being unfamiliar with software, or the extra time and cost of complying do not qualify. If your circumstances change you tell your regulator, and after 28 days you use the service like everyone else.
Carriers, brokers, dealers and producers have no duty under these regulations. The record of your load is made by the site that receives it.
When it bites
From 1 October 2026 in England and Wales, under the Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 and the Digital Waste Tracking (Wales) Regulations 2026, both made.
Each receipt goes in within two working days, counted from the day after the load arrives, with weekends and bank holidays left out. The page's own example: waste received at 9am on Monday must be submitted, and a unique reference number received, by 11:59pm on Wednesday. An error flagged by the service or your software is corrected inside the same two days. Any other error is corrected as soon as you can and always within one month of discovering it.
An outage of your own, such as a network failure or building damage, does not pause the duty. You tell your regulator, keep a written record within the same two working days, and transfer it to the service within seven working days of the outage ending.
The sanctions are listed on the page: a compliance notice, an enforcement cost recovery notice, a variable monetary penalty with no upper limit, a fixed monetary penalty of £1,000, or prosecution with an unlimited fine. A notice of intent to impose a penalty can be objected to within 28 days, and a final notice appealed to the tribunal within two months. Convictions and civil sanctions go on a public register kept by the regulator.