Digital waste tracking for WEEE treatment facilities

At a WEEE site, more loads are hazardous than not. Each one is a record for Defra within two working days, and the hazardous ones carry the consignment note code.

Who: The operator of a permitted WEEE treatment facility.
Codes: 20 01 35* household electricals with hazardous parts is the commonest, at eight in ten sites.
Hazardous: Most WEEE codes carry an asterisk: consignment note code and hazardous details on the record.
R or D: R13 to store, R4 to recover the metals.

Start free Check your permit

What English WEEE sites took in

Code	What the catalogue calls it	Sites
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)	80%
16 06 01*	lead batteries	51%
20 01 36	discarded electrical and electronic equipment other than those mentioned in 20 01 21, 20 01 23 and 20 01 35 (household electricals)	44%
16 02 15*	hazardous components removed from discarded equipment	40%
20 01 33*	batteries and accumulators included in 16 06 01, 16 06 02 or 16 06 03 and unsorted batteries and accumulators containing	38%
16 02 14	discarded equipment other than those mentioned in 16 02 09 to 16 02 13 (business electricals)	38%
16 02 13*	discarded equipment containing hazardous components other than those mentioned in 16 02 09 to 16 02 12 (business electricals with hazardous parts)	38%
20 01 23*	discarded equipment containing chlorofluorocarbons (fridges and freezers)	36%
20 01 21*	fluorescent tubes and other mercury-containing waste	33%
16 06 04	alkaline batteries	24%

"Sites" is the share of the 45 English WEEE treatment facility 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.

Your permit's list

SR2015 No 15, WEEE treatment excluding ozone-depleting substances, lists 21 codes and names R3, R4, R5, R13, D15. SR2015 No 3 covers metal recycling with WEEE. In 2024 returns the tonnes at WEEE sites went under R13 66%, R4 28%, R5 4%, R11 1%, D15 1% WDI 2024.

An example record, filled in

A made-up cage of mixed household electricals from a collection point.

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 WEEE Recycling, EX0001XX
Carrier and their number	Example Haulage Ltd, CBDU123456
How it came	Road
Vehicle registration	AB12 CDE
Waste description	Mixed small household electricals with batteries in some
EWC code	20 01 35* (typed 200135)
Physical form	Solid
Containers	[CAR] Carrier (for example, pallet cage), 4
Weight	0.9 Tonnes, actual
R or D code	R13 for 0.9 tonnes
Hazardous properties	Yes: HP codes and components from the consignment note, or say where they came from
Consignment note code	From the note, e.g. EXAMPL/A0002, or one of Defra's three reasons
POPs	Yes or No, as the waste is described to you
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.

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 WEEE treatment facilities need digital waste tracking?

A permitted WEEE treatment site that receives waste does: from 1 October 2026 in England and Wales every load is reported to Defra within two working days.

Is WEEE hazardous for digital waste tracking?

Many WEEE codes are. 20 01 35*, 20 01 23*, 20 01 21*, 16 02 13* and 16 02 15* all carry an asterisk, so those loads need the consignment note code, or one of Defra's reasons, and the hazardous details.

What R code does a WEEE site use?

R13 for storing it before it goes on, R4 for recovering metals. Your permit lists the codes you may use.

Does the WEEE paperwork stop?

No. Waste transfer notes, consignment notes and your permit's returns carry on alongside digital waste tracking.

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.

Hazardous waste sites: consignment notes and digital waste trackingConsignment notes carry on. Each note is its own record, with the code, HP codes and components.
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 skip hire yards and transfer stationsThe codes yards really take, R13 or D15, weighing by skip size, and a filled-in example.
EWC codes for your type of site, in plain EnglishThe waste codes each kind of site uses most, and how to spot a hazardous one.
Every guideAll the questions customers ask, one page each.