Digital Waste Tracking for councils and local authorities

Councils and local authorities sit on both sides of the waste-movement record. As operators of permitted receiving sites they are receivers — facing the October 2026 Digital Waste Tracking deadline. As operators of refuse collection vehicles they are carriers — coming into scope a year later. Here is exactly what each role means and what councils need to do by when.

Do councils need to use Digital Waste Tracking?

A council or combined authority that operates a transfer station, household waste recycling centre (HWRC), composting site, treatment facility, or any other permitted waste destination is a waste receiver under the Digital Waste Tracking regulations. Every load arriving at those sites needs a digital receipt submitted to the service within the prescribed window. Council refuse collection vehicles are not affected until Phase 2 in October 2027.

Waste disposal authorities and unitary authorities operating permitted receiving sites face the same 1 October 2026 deadline as any other permitted facility in England, Wales & Northern Ireland. In Scotland the deadline is January 2027.

Which council sites are in scope from October 2026?

Is household waste at HWRCs exempt from Digital Waste Tracking?

Many HWRCs in England operate a permitted area that accepts commercial waste alongside the household drops — trade customers, contractors, and small businesses. That permitted receiving activity is in scope. The public drop-off lane, where householders bring their own household waste, is not included in Phase 1.

Councils running HWRCs should review their site layout and permit conditions: if the site has a permitted area that accepts any commercial or business waste, digital receipt recording applies to those loads from 1 October 2026.

What data does a council submit for each received load?

The required fields are the same as for any permitted receiving site:

• →EWC code(s) — the six-digit European Waste Catalogue code(s) for the arriving load. Hazardous codes carry an asterisk (*).
• →Waste description — a plain-English description of the waste alongside its EWC classification.
• →Quantity — weight (typically tonnes) and the method used to determine it (for example, weighbridge or estimated).
• →Carrier & registration number — who delivered the load and their waste carrier registration number.
• →Hazardous or POPs status — whether the load is hazardous or contains Persistent Organic Pollutants.
• →Disposal or recovery code — the R-code (recovery) or D-code (disposal) for what the site does with the waste.

The deadline is the end of the second working day after the day the waste arrives — so a load received on Monday must be in the system by the end of Wednesday (excluding weekends and bank holidays).

When do council refuse vehicles come into scope?

Until October 2027, a paper Waste Transfer Note still satisfies the s.34 Environmental Protection Act 1990 duty of care for waste collections. Councils running kerbside refuse or recycling collections do not need digital tracking for those movements until Phase 2. The October 2026 obligation covers only the receiving end of waste movements — the permitted sites, not the vehicles.

What does Digital Waste Tracking mean for WasteDataFlow?

WasteDataFlow is the long-standing system through which councils report local authority collected waste statistics to government. DEFRA has indicated that the granular movement-level data gathered by Digital Waste Tracking will, over time, make separate aggregate returns unnecessary. For now the two systems run in parallel — councils must meet both obligations until official guidance confirms the handover.

This guide is general information about Digital Waste Tracking for councils and local authorities, not legal advice. Check your obligations against the primary sources below and contact your environmental regulator — the Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales, or the Northern Ireland Environment Agency — if in doubt.