The ways to report receipt of waste to DEFRA: online, spreadsheet or software

There is more than one way to report receipt of waste to DEFRA. On the Receipt of Waste service you can enter each movement online, upload a spreadsheet of movements in one go, or connect waste software to the service's API so it submits for you. All three put the same record into the same government service, and all three need your organisation's DEFRA account — the £26-a-year charge applies whichever route you choose.

What are the ways to report receipt of waste?

Reporting receipt of waste is the duty on a permitted site to tell DEFRA about each load of waste it receives, through the Digital Waste Tracking service. It is now mandatory for receivers in England and Wales since 1 October 2026, with Northern Ireland and Scotland following from 1 January 2027. The duty is to get an accurate record of each receipt into the service on time — it does not prescribe how you produce that record, which is why DEFRA offers more than one route in.

Route 1 — enter each movement online

The simplest route is to log into DEFRA's Receipt of Waste service and type in each movement as it arrives. For a site with only a handful of receipts this is perfectly sensible — there is nothing to install and DEFRA maintains the service. The trade-offs are the obvious ones of manual entry:

• →Every field is hand-keyed. Each receipt is typed in by a person, one at a time, after the load has arrived.
• →It is desk-bound and online-only. You need a screen and a connection at the moment you record — not always convenient at a gate or weighbridge.
• →Coded values are caught by eye. The service uses case-sensitive coded values (EWC codes and the like); on screen it is on you to enter the right one correctly.

Route 2 — upload a DEFRA spreadsheet

Instead of keying movements one by one, you can fill in a DEFRA spreadsheet template with several movements and upload the file in one go. This suits periodic batch reporting — a run of receipts entered into a familiar grid, then uploaded together — and reduces the click-by-click effort of online entry. It is still, though, a manual and desk-bound step:

• →You prepare the file yourself. Someone populates the template with the movements, which is data entry by another name.
• →Errors surface at upload. Wrong or wrong-case coded values are caught when the file is checked, not as you capture — so a bad row means going back and re-uploading.
• →It is after-the-fact. The spreadsheet is compiled from notes taken earlier, so it does not capture at the point of work and still depends on getting the file in within the deadline.

Route 3 — connect software via the API

DEFRA's service also exposes an API. Compliant waste software connects to it and submits records on your behalf — rather than a person typing into the service or assembling a spreadsheet, the software sends the record straight through. Because the record is built where the movement happens, this route changes the shape of the work:

• →Capture at the point of work. The receipt is created at the gate or weighbridge — often on a phone — not written up later from memory or a scrap of paper.
• →Offline working. Good software captures without a connection and submits once back online, so a signal blackspot never stops a receipt being recorded.
• →Validation before submission. The coded values are checked before anything is sent, so an invalid or wrong-case code is caught up front rather than bounced back by DEFRA.
• →Automatic, on-time submission. Records go through the API without a manual upload step, which helps keep every receipt inside the 2-working-day deadline as volume rises.

The three routes, compared

All three routes report into the same DEFRA Digital Waste Tracking service and all three need your organisation's account, which costs £26 a year per organisation (per legal entity). The charge is for using the service — not for any particular way of reaching it. Software is an optional, separate cost on top of that charge.

So which route should you use?

Low volume

If you record only a handful of receipts, entering them online — or compiling a short spreadsheet now and then — is the right call. Just the £26-a-year DEFRA charge, nothing to install, and the manual effort is trivial at that scale. There is no need to pay for software you would barely use.

Higher or steady volume

As receipts mount up, the manual routes become a bottleneck: re-keying or re-compiling eats real time, being tied to a desk and a connection is impractical for how your gate actually works, and catching every case-sensitive coded value by eye is a risk. That is where connecting software via the API earns its keep — capture at the point of work, offline, validated up front, and submitted automatically inside the deadline.

The deadline is the same whichever route you pick

Reporting route has no bearing on timing. Each receipt of waste must be reported within 2 working days of the waste arriving — excluding weekends and bank holidays, counting from the day after receipt. At low volume, online entry or a spreadsheet upload meets that comfortably; at higher volume, automatic submission through the API is what keeps you reliably inside it without a manual step for every load.

This guide is general information about Digital Waste Tracking, not legal advice. Check your obligations against the primary sources below — see DEFRA's Report receipt of waste guidance — and, if in doubt, your environmental regulator.