Is there a grace period for digital waste tracking?

No. The duty applies from 1 October 2026 for permitted waste receiving sites in England and Wales, and the regulations do not include a grace period. The Environment Agency has said that sites which fail to comply will be considered non-compliant and may face enforcement action.

Do I still need to complete paper waste transfer notes?

Yes, for now. The paper method continues alongside the digital service, so waste transfer notes, hazardous waste consignment notes and your usual returns must still be completed as normal.

I have missed the deadline for my site. Can I still get compliant?

Yes. Create a LoadLog account, register your organisation with DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking Service and connect the API code, then report every load you receive within the two working day window. Loads already received can be imported and submitted in a batch. Submitting late does not undo a missed window, but a complete record is the position to be in.

What does it cost to get back on track with LoadLog?

The Free plan costs nothing and includes five waste transfer notes a month with DEFRA submission. Compliance Lite is £12 a month for unlimited notes, and includes CSV import and bulk entry for up to 1,000 rows a month. DEFRA also charges its own £26 annual service fee per legal entity.

Missed the digital waste tracking deadline: what to do now

LoadLog gets you compliant from your next load. Set up in minutes, start free.

From 1 October 2026, permitted waste receiving sites in England and Wales must report every load to DEFRA within two working days.

Listed on GOV.UK as a compatible software provider

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No credit card required to start. The Free plan includes five waste transfer notes a month, each submitted to DEFRA.

What changed on 1 October

From 1 October 2026, every load received at a permitted or licensed waste site in England and Wales must be reported to DEFRA's digital waste tracking service, with the record submitted within two working days of the day after the load arrives.

Weekends and bank holidays do not count towards the clock. A load received at 9am on a Monday must be in by 11:59pm on Wednesday, and a load that arrives on Friday has until 11:59pm on Tuesday.

There was no single deadline to be ready for. Each load carries its own two working day window, so a site that is not set up yet is letting windows close with every load through the gate. The service gives the regulator a live picture of waste movements, and missing records show up far more clearly than they ever did on paper.

If you are behind, the fix is quicker than you might expect. Setting up takes minutes rather than weeks, the routine is one form per load, and loads that arrived before you were ready can be brought across in a batch. Here is how.

Not sure whether your site is in scope? The DWTS compliance hub walks through who has to report, and the who needs DWTS guide covers the details.

What a gap costs

Operating without the required records is a breach of the regulations. The standard penalty is a fixed monetary penalty of £1,000 per breach, rising by 50%, to £1,500, if it is not paid by the deadline in the final notice. Each unrecorded movement can be treated as a separate contravention.

For serious or repeated breaches, the Environment Agency can impose a variable monetary penalty with no upper limit, and failing to comply is a criminal offence.

Source: The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/729). Read the full breakdown in DWTS penalties: what happens if you miss the deadline.

Getting back on track, step by step

Most people are testing a load in DEFRA's sandbox within half an hour of signing up.

Step 1

Create your account

Sign up with an email address and a password. It takes under two minutes, and you do not need a card to start. The Free plan includes five waste transfer notes a month, with DEFRA submission included.

Step 2

Register with DEFRA and connect your codes

Every receiving organisation registers with the service directly and gets its own API code, and DEFRA charges an annual service fee of £26 per legal entity. We walk you through the registration and point you to the GOV.UK form, and your sandbox code is filled in for you so you can start straight away.

Step-by-step registration guide

Step 3

Go live and put today's loads through

Switch to production, record each load arriving now, capture the signatures and submit. The note goes to DEFRA through the API and comes back with a confirmation receipt and a submission ID within seconds.

Step 4

Bring anything you missed across

If loads have already been received, import them from a spreadsheet or a weighbridge export: the columns are matched once, a preview shows what will be created, and the batch arrives as drafts ready to submit. Compliance Lite includes CSV import and bulk entry for up to 1,000 rows a month. Submitting late does not undo a missed window, but getting the records in brings your position back up to date.

The LoadLog Waste Transfer Notes list, showing notes and their statuses — The Waste Transfer Notes list, with status badges and the actions available on each note.

Prefer to keep it manual? DEFRA's spreadsheet route is free and official, and our guide to the digital waste tracking spreadsheet explains how it works and where the friction starts.

Simple pricing, from free

No setup fees and no per-user charges. Monthly plans have no minimum term.

Free

£0 /mo

✓ 1 admin user
✓ 5 WTNs per month
✓ Digital signatures and DEFRA submission
✓ No credit card required

Get Started Free

Compliance Lite

£12 /mo

✓ 1 admin + 2 operator users
✓ Unlimited WTNs
✓ Carrier checks (all four UK registers)
✓ PDF export and auto email PDF
✓ Bulk entry and CSV import, 1,000 rows a month

Get Started

Running more than one site, or need API access? Compare all plans, from Compliance Plus at £49/mo up to Enterprise at £149/mo. DEFRA's £26 annual service fee is separate and paid to DEFRA.

Good to know

The duty started on 1 October 2026

And there is no grace period in the regulations. The Environment Agency has said that sites which fail to comply will be considered non-compliant and may face enforcement action.

Paper waste transfer notes still run alongside

For now, you must continue to complete waste transfer notes, hazardous waste consignment notes and your usual returns as normal. The digital record is an additional duty, and LoadLog builds it alongside, not instead.

Listed on GOV.UK as a compatible software provider

LoadLog is on the GOV.UK list of compatible software providers for the report receipt of waste service, having passed the production approval tests.

No sales call, no setup fee

You sign up and start yourself. Nothing is charged before you start, there are no per-user charges, and monthly plans have no minimum term.

Works on any device

Runs in the browser on your phone, tablet or desktop. No app to install, nothing to download.

Help on every plan

Email support is included from the Free plan upwards, and the getting started guide takes you through the whole setup.

Related guidance

Receiving waste in Scotland or Northern Ireland? The duty reaches those sites on 1 January 2027, and our guide to the January 2027 deadline covers it.

Each nation also has its own page with the setup steps: Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Official sources

Get back on track from your next load

Set up your account in minutes. No credit card required, and your first load can go through DEFRA's sandbox today. The backlog can follow when you are ready.

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Questions? Use the contact form and we will get back to you.