How to get weighbridge tickets into the DWTS service

Most waste sites already have the data. A weighbridge system records the vehicle, the waste type and the weight for every load that crosses the plate. The Digital Waste Tracking Service needs that same information as a digital record, submitted within two working days of the load arriving.

The gap is not the weighing. It is everything after it. Someone exports the tickets, or reads them off a screen, and types each one into a form again. At low volume that is a chore. On a day with 60 loads before lunch, it is most of someone's afternoon, and every retyped field is a chance to introduce an error.

The three ways to get tickets into the service

Typing every load. This is where most sites start. It works for a handful of loads a week. Beyond that, it competes with the real work: serving the drivers, keeping the gate moving, managing the yard.

DEFRA's spreadsheet upload. The service provides a spreadsheet for sites that do not use software. At very small volumes it does the job, but its limits are worth knowing. If one row has an error, the whole file is rejected and you are not told which row failed. Each legal entity needs its own file. There is no carrier registration check and no digital signatures.

Importing into software that does the checks. Export the tickets as a CSV, bring them into LoadLog, and each row becomes a draft waste record. The carrier checks, the code checks and the signatures are handled by the software, and the records submit to the service from there.

What a CSV import looks like in practice

Ask your weighbridge supplier whether your system can export tickets as a CSV. Most can produce a file with the date, time, vehicle, waste type, EWC code and weight for each ticket. Some call it an integration export and some call it a report; it is the same idea.

Upload the file, or paste the rows in from a spreadsheet, and LoadLog matches your columns automatically. The mapping is remembered as a profile, so the next export from the same system is a quick job rather than a setup exercise.

Nothing is created until you approve the preview. The preview shows exactly what will be created, and any rows with problems are listed separately, so one bad row never blocks the rest of the file. The rows that pass arrive as draft records to review before anything reaches DEFRA. Rows that belong to the same movement are gathered into a single record, so one load weighed across several tickets still produces one note.

When the drafts look right, submit the whole batch to the Digital Waste Tracking Service in one go. Every action is written to the audit log along with the DEFRA response.

What to check in your export before the first import

• One row per weighed item, with a movement reference if several rows belong to the same load.
• An EWC code for every row.
• Weights in kilograms.
• Dates and times in UK local time.
• The vehicle registration and carrier details for the collecting vehicle.

If some rows come back flagged, they are listed with the reason: a missing code, a date in the wrong format, a registration that does not look right. Nothing is lost. You fix the file and import those rows when you are ready.

A worked example

Say your site takes 60 loads in a morning. At noon you export the morning's tickets, upload the file, and check the preview. A couple of rows come back flagged because the paperwork from those loads is incomplete. You submit the other 58 as a batch, then import the stragglers once the details are sorted.

The whole exercise is a review pass, not a typing session, and the weighbridge never stops.

Who this suits

Import pays off wherever loads arrive faster than anyone can type: transfer stations, MRFs, skip yards, metal recyclers, composting sites in the busy season, and hazardous waste sites that handle many small consignments. It also helps with the move itself. If your records live in a spreadsheet or an old system, they come across as drafts rather than starting from zero.

Plans and limits

Import is available on the paid plans, with a monthly row allowance: 1,000 rows on Compliance Lite, 5,000 on Compliance Plus and 25,000 on Enterprise. Rows that fail validation cost nothing, because the allowance counts the records that are actually created. See the pricing page for what each plan includes.

Compliance Lite is free until the end of 2026 for sites that sign up before October, and it includes the import workflow with its 1,000 row monthly allowance.

Rehearse it before you go live

If you want to try the flow without touching your live records, LoadLog's sandbox runs the same import against DEFRA's test environment. Import the file, check the preview, submit a test batch, and see exactly what the live service will receive. Your weighbridge keeps doing what it does. The retyping stops.