Recording a load: what actually happens at the gate
A three-minute walkthrough of a waste movement being received into a site and recorded in the Digital Waste Tracking Service, then each step in writing so your gatehouse and office staff can see what they will need to hand.
Put your speakers on — follow the load from arrival to its digital record.
Demonstration account with sample data. Recorded on our Defra-approved route; the record shown is sent to Defra’s service and the tracking reference returned.
Six steps, one screen each
Much the same information as the paper transfer note, recorded digitally. Waste first, then the transporter, then the destination.
Pick the site the waste is coming into
Select the receiving site for the load. If you operate more than one site, confirm during set-up how sites, permits and user access are separated.
Enter the waste
Search for the waste type by its six-digit code, or just type the description if you don’t know the code. The official description fills in from the code. Then:
- physical form (solid, liquid, sludge, gas)
- whether it contains persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
- quantity in tonnes, as an actual weight if you weighed it or an estimate if you did not. Both are accepted. If you estimate, use a defensible method and mark the value as estimated.
- number and type of containers, a skip for instance
- the recovery or disposal code, R13 for storage pending recovery, and so on
Add your own references
The paper transfer note that came in with the load is recorded here, along with the weighbridge ticket number if you have one. That means you can find the movement later on any reference you hold, yours or the carrier’s.
The transporter
Was it your own vehicle or an external carrier? The demonstration shows an external carrier being searched by registration number, with its name, address, postcode and registration details returned. Check the current registration before relying on it.
Then record whether a broker was involved, how the waste travelled and the vehicle registration.
The destination
In the current demonstration the selected site is already set up with its address and permit details, and the date defaults to today. Check those details before completing the movement.
Confirm and complete
The record has gone to Defra and the tracking reference comes back to it. In the completed movements list you see the summary, the detail, a marker showing it has synced, and the tracking ID.
Need to amend something afterwards, a corrected weight say? Update the existing record using its tracking reference. Correct it as soon as practicable and within one month of becoming aware of the error; the service retains the change history.
Two working days is not 48 hours. A Friday afternoon load has until the end of Tuesday. A Thursday load has until the end of Monday; leave it to Tuesday and it’s late. Build the check into a routine rather than a memory.
What a site needs to have ready
None of this is new. It is information you already hold, in five places, that now needs to be in one.
- Six-digit waste codes and agreed descriptions for every stream you accept regularly, and your R and D codes
- Your permit or licence details as the Environment Agency holds them, for every site
- Carrier registration numbers (CBDU or CBDL) for the carriers who deliver to you, their renewal dates, and which of them use a broker
- How you weigh: a calibrated weighbridge, or an agreed estimation method for loads you don’t weigh
- Who makes the record at the gate or in the office, and who covers when they’re off
- Where the paper transfer note and weighbridge ticket numbers get entered, and by whom, ideally while the vehicle is still on the bridge
- A routine that gets every record completed and checked within two working days
- A place your permit renewal dates live that isn’t somebody’s inbox
We do the set-up with you, not to you
Our work is the data behind the demonstration: a readiness review, codes and registrations cleaned up, sites set up on our Defra-approved route, and representative loads tested alongside your staff.
After that it’s permit renewals, changes to the streams you accept, and the questions a digital record throws up once you’re live. See how the set-up works.
Want help getting your site recording?
Tell us your organisation, the site and a telephone number and we’ll be in touch.
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Page last reviewed 5 September 2026.