Hazardous waste sites: consignment notes and digital waste tracking

Digital waste tracking does not replace the hazardous waste consignment note. You keep doing the note, and the consignee returns, and you also make a Defra record for the waste on each note.

Paper: Consignment notes and consignee returns carry on, and consignee return charges still apply.
One per note: GOV.UK: the waste on each consignment note is a separate entry in the service.
The code: The note's consignment code goes on the record. In England and Wales: six letters or numbers, a slash, five more.
Also: The hazardous property (HP) codes, the components and their concentrations, or where those details came from.

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The note and the record, side by side

	Consignment note	Digital waste tracking record
Still needed?	Yes, where it was before GOV.UK	Yes, from 1 Oct 2026 (England and Wales)
Who makes it	Started by the producer or holder, travels with the waste, you complete your part as consignee GOV.UK	You, the permitted site receiving it Reg 4
How many	One per consignment	A separate entry for the waste on each note GOV.UK
When	As the hazardous waste rules say	Within two working days of the day after it arrives
Returns	Consignee returns carry on, with their charges GOV.UK	Not a return: one record per load

What a hazardous record needs, on top of the usual boxes

The consignment note code. In England and Wales it is XXXXXX/YYYYY: the first six letters or numbers of the producer's company name, a slash, and five the producer chooses GOV.UK. Scotland's special waste notes are SA, SB or SC and seven digits; Northern Ireland's DA, DB or DC and seven digits (Defra's API specification).
The HP codes, the hazardous properties, HP 1 to HP 15, as on the note.
The chemical or biological components and their concentrations, where they apply GOV.UK, or where the details came from: given with the waste, from guidance, your own testing, or not given.
POPs, persistent organic pollutants, if the waste contains them.

No consignment code?

Defra's service gives three reasons you can pick instead: "Non-Haz Waste Transfer", "No documentation provided with Waste", and "Household Waste Recycling Centre Receipt". Pick the one that is true. Whether a load should have come with a note is a question for the hazardous waste rules, and for the Environment Agency, not for digital waste tracking.

What English hazardous transfer stations took in

Asbestos is the commonest code, at nearly half of them. Most also take ordinary waste: mixed municipal waste, 20 03 01, is second on the list.

Code	What the catalogue calls it	Sites
17 06 05*	construction materials containing asbestos	46%
20 03 01	mixed municipal waste	42%
20 01 40	metals (from households and businesses)	28%
20 01 01	paper and cardboard	27%
17 06 01*	insulating materials containing asbestos	27%
20 03 07	bulky waste	27%
17 08 02	gypsum-based construction materials other than those mentioned in 17 08 01	26%
20 01 35*	discarded electrical and electronic equipment other than those mentioned in 20 01 21 and 20 01 23 containing hazardous c (household electricals with hazardous parts)	26%
20 01 38	wood other than that mentioned on 20 01 37 (from households and businesses)	25%
17 09 04	mixed construction and demolition wastes other than those mentioned in 17 09 01, 17 09 02 and 17 09 03	25%

"Sites" is the share of the 445 English hazardous waste transfer permits that sent the Environment Agency 2024 waste returns and took that code in at least once EA 2024 Waste Data Interrogator. A code an asterisk follows is hazardous.

SR2008 No 9, storage of asbestos waste, lists two codes, 17 06 01* and 17 06 05*, and one operation: D15.

An example record, filled in

A made-up load of bagged asbestos sheet on a consignment note.

Box	What goes in it (made-up load)
Date and time it arrived	15/10/2026 09:30:00 (Thursday)
Your reference	The weighbridge ticket or transfer note number, e.g. T-10482
Your site and permit	Example Hazardous Transfer, EX0001XX
Carrier and their number	Example Asbestos Removals Ltd, CBDU123456
How it came	Road
Vehicle registration	AB12 CDE
Waste description	Bagged asbestos cement sheet from a garage roof
EWC code	17 06 05* (typed 170605)
Physical form	Solid
Containers	[BAG] Bag / Sack, 12
Weight	0.6 Tonnes, actual
R or D code	D15 for 0.6 tonnes
Consignment note code	EXAMPL/A0003, copied from the note
Hazardous properties	Yes. HP codes as on the note; components as given with the waste
POPs	No
Due at Defra by	23:59 on Monday 19 October 2026, two working days after the day it came in

All names and numbers are made up. Copy the real HP codes and components from the note; don't fill them in from an example.

Who has to report what

You report what comes in. The duty is on the operator of the permitted site that receives the waste Reg 4(1). One record per load, within two working days of the day after it arrives.
Not what goes out. When a load leaves you for another permitted site, that site reports receiving it. Your outgoing paperwork carries on as before.
Not the producer or the haulier, yet. Carriers, brokers and dealers are planned to come in from October 2027 GOV.UK. What is known about that so far.
Paper carries on. Waste transfer notes, Annex VII forms and hazardous waste consignment notes are still needed where they were before GOV.UK.

Permit or exemption?

This is the question that decides whether you report now.

A permit (numbered like AB1234CD or EPR/AB1234CD) for a site that receives waste: you are in phase 1, from 1 October 2026 in England and Wales. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the date is 1 January 2027.
Only a registered exemption (a WEX number): not phase 1. GOV.UK say exemptions "will be included in a later phase" and have not given a date GOV.UK. How to tell which you hold.

Not sure? The free permit check looks your site up on the Environment Agency's register.

Straight answers

Questions people ask

Do hazardous waste consignment notes stop with digital waste tracking?

No. GOV.UK say you must continue to complete hazardous waste consignment notes, and continue to submit hazardous waste consignee returns, with their charges.

I have several consignment notes on one lorry. Is that one record?

No. GOV.UK say the waste covered by each consignment note is entered as a separate entry in the service.

What format is the consignment note code?

In England and Wales, XXXXXX/YYYYY: the first six letters or numbers of the company name in part A2 of the note, a slash, and five letters or numbers chosen for that consignment. Scotland uses SA, SB or SC and seven digits, Northern Ireland DA, DB or DC and seven digits.

What if hazardous waste arrives with no consignment code?

Defra's service offers three reasons instead: non-hazardous waste transfer, no documentation provided with the waste, or a household waste recycling centre receipt. Pick the one that is true.

What hazardous details does the record need?

The hazardous property codes, the chemical or biological components and their concentrations where they apply, or where those details came from, and whether the waste contains POPs.

Want this done for you at the gate?

Byrne Waste Tracking runs in the browser on a phone or computer, with nothing to install. It remembers your carriers and their numbers, offers the waste codes and R or D codes your site uses, checks each load against Defra's rules first, and sends it to Defra automatically once you've linked your Defra account. Byrne Digital Solutions is listed on GOV.UK as a compatible software provider.

£89 per site per month, no contract. Join before 1 November 2026 and nothing is due until 1 November; join from 1 November and you get 14 days free. After that it's £89 a month per site, and there's no card to enter until you start it. No setup fee when you set it up yourself. If a consultant introduces you, any setup fee is agreed through them and you see the amount before you pay anything.

A site in Scotland or Northern Ireland that joins before 1 January 2027 pays nothing until 1 January 2027, the day the duty starts there.

Start free Log a pretend load first

Got a waste consultant? Ask them about Byrne first. Stuck on something here? Email wilf@byrnedigitalsolutions.co.uk - email is the quickest way to reach me, and I reply the same working day.

Digital waste tracking for scrap metal yards and vehicle dismantlersThe codes yards take, R4 or R13, why batteries and ELVs need a consignment code, and an example.
Digital waste tracking for WEEE treatment facilitiesElectricals and battery codes, which are hazardous, R4 or R13, and an example.
Digital waste tracking for skip hire yards and transfer stationsThe codes yards really take, R13 or D15, weighing by skip size, and a filled-in example.
A load is wrong. How to put it right, and how long you haveBefore it's sent, after it's sent, and the two different deadlines GOV.UK give.
Your EA quarterly return and digital waste trackingTwo separate duties. The deadlines, the form, and how the two records differ.
Every guideAll the questions customers ask, one page each.