How does DEFRA's digital waste tracking spreadsheet work?
If you receive waste at a permitted site, you have two ways to report it. You can connect software to DEFRA's API, or you can fill in DEFRA's own spreadsheet and upload it. The spreadsheet is official, it is free beyond the service charge, and for some sites it is genuinely the right answer.
This page covers what it does, what it will not do, and where the friction starts to bite.
Where to get it
The template comes from DEFRA. Get it from the report receipt of waste service, or follow the link on GOV.UK's guidance page for reporting receipt of waste. Download a fresh copy each time rather than reusing one from a while ago.
DEFRA is strict about the file. You cannot use your own spreadsheet, and you cannot change the layout to suit how your office works. Complete the mandatory fields as they are set out and upload it exactly as it comes.
What you can put in one spreadsheet
More than you might expect. You can include several waste movements in the same spreadsheet, and if your organisation runs more than one site you can put those movements in as well. It is one organisation per spreadsheet. If you operate more than one organisation, each needs its own.
One thing to plan around: the spreadsheet is a batch, not a running log. You add movements, submit it, and then start a new one for the next submission. It is not a file you keep adding to.
The deadline it has to meet
You must submit within 2 working days, counting from the day after you receive the waste and excluding weekends and bank holidays. Receive a load at 9am on Monday and the record has to be in, with a reference number back, by 11:59pm on Wednesday.
That window applies to corrections too. If a submission comes back with an error, you have the same 2 working days to fix it and send it again.
What it costs
£26 a year for each organisation on your account, paid to DEFRA, whichever route you use. The charge covers every waste-receiving site that organisation operates. The first payment is due by 31 January 2027, and registering later in the year does not reduce it.
So the spreadsheet saves you the software cost. It does not save you the DEFRA charge.
The three routes, side by side
| Route | How records get in | Cost | When it is the right answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEFRA spreadsheet | Typed by hand into DEFRA's template, uploaded as a batch | £26 a year (the DEFRA charge only) | A handful of loads a week, or a short-term stopgap |
| API software (other providers) | Software connects to DEFRA's API; setup varies by provider | Varies; typically a monthly plan plus the £26 | Sites that want a wider package around the reporting duty |
| LoadLog | Recorded once (typed, pasted or imported by CSV), submitted to the API automatically | Free for five notes a month, then £12 a month, plus the £26 | Receiving sites logging more than a handful of loads a week |
The £26 service charge applies to every route; it is paid to DEFRA, not to the software. Everything else is the cost of getting the records in.
Where it starts to hurt
For a site receiving a handful of loads a week, the spreadsheet is workable. If that describes you, we are not going to talk you out of it.
The arithmetic changes as volume grows. Every load gets typed by hand from a delivery note, a weighbridge ticket or a diary into a template that cannot be rearranged to match the way your office already works. At a handful of loads a week that is a few minutes. At a few dozen a day it is somebody's job.
It is also a batch process, so the work arrives in bursts rather than flowing. Collect the movements, fill in the sheet, submit it, start again. And because everything is typed by hand, the mistakes are typed by hand too, and they have to be found and fixed inside the same two working day window.
Two other things worth knowing before you commit. The spreadsheet does not replace your other obligations: permit waste returns and hazardous waste consignee returns still have to be submitted as before. And if your site cannot use digital systems at all, DEFRA has a separate process for that, which its guidance covers.
If that describes your site
Software removes the retyping, not the obligation. LoadLog submits your records to DEFRA directly through the API, so a load recorded once does not need typing again, and the deadline is handled for you rather than diarised.
There is a free tier. It covers five waste transfer notes a month and submits to DEFRA the same way the paid plans do, so you can run the whole workflow at no cost. If you are moving more than five notes a month, Compliance Lite is £12 a month for unlimited notes.
Run the numbers for a small site: fifty loads a month on Compliance Lite is £12 a month, about £144 a year, plus DEFRA's £26 per organisation, so roughly £170 a year all in, with the retyping gone and the deadline handled. We work that example through properly for vehicle sites in the DWTS guide for vehicle breakers and ATFs.
And if the spreadsheet is enough for you
Keep it. You can move across at any point, and nothing you have already submitted to DEFRA changes.
One more thing about 2027
The spreadsheet is a temporary measure. DEFRA describes it as a way for sites to comply while they acquire software, and says it expects it to remain in place until at least October 2027. It has also said it will withdraw the method when appropriate.
That is not a deadline and it is not a guarantee. If your compliance plan rests on the spreadsheet, it is worth knowing that the route has an end date, and nobody has announced when it is.