Digital waste tracking for waste wood recycling sites

Waste wood comes in under four or five codes depending on where it came from, and each one has a hazardous twin. Every load is a record for Defra within two working days.

Who: The operator of a permitted wood recycling, chipping or treatment site.
Codes: 19 12 07, 20 01 38, 17 02 01, 15 01 03. Same wood, different source.
R or D: R3 for recycling it, R13 for storing it before it goes on.
Hazardous: Treated or contaminated wood: 19 12 06*, 20 01 37*, 17 02 04*.

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What English wood sites took in

Wood has no site category of its own in the EA's figures, so this is the 70 English permits where wood codes were at least 60% of the tonnes they took in during 2024.

Code	What the catalogue calls it	Sites
19 12 07	wood other than that mentioned in 19 12 06 (from treating other waste)	71%
20 01 38	wood other than that mentioned on 20 01 37 (from households and businesses)	50%
17 02 01	wood (from building and demolition)	46%
15 01 03	wooden packaging	43%
03 01 05	sawdust, shavings, cuttings, wood, particle board and veneer other than those mentioned in 03 01 04	19%
20 02 01	biodegradable waste (garden and park waste)	9%
19 12 02	ferrous metal (pulled out of mixed waste)	6%
20 03 01	mixed municipal waste	4%
17 08 02	gypsum-based construction materials other than those mentioned in 17 08 01	4%
17 02 04*	glass, plastic and wood containing or contaminated with substances	4%

"Sites" is the share of the 70 English permits that mostly take wood 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.

The codes, and their twins

Where it came from	Not hazardous	Hazardous twin
Building and demolition	17 02 01	17 02 04*
Treating other waste, such as a transfer station's wood pile	19 12 07	19 12 06*
Households and businesses	20 01 38	20 01 37*
Pallets and wooden packaging	15 01 03	-

SR2022 No 8, waste wood treatment, lists ten codes, none of them hazardous: 02 01 03, 02 01 07, 03 01 01, 03 01 05, 03 03 01, 15 01 03, 17 02 01, 19 12 07, 20 01 38, 20 02 01. It names R3, R13. In 2024 returns the tonnes of wood at these sites went under R3 52%, R1 37%, R13 5%, D1 3%, R10 1% WDI 2024; the R1 is sites that burn wood as fuel.

An example record, filled in

A made-up RoRo of wood from a transfer station.

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 Wood Recycling, EX0001XX
Carrier and their number	Example Haulage Ltd, CBDU123456
How it came	Road
Vehicle registration	AB12 CDE
Waste description	Mixed waste wood: pallets, offcuts, furniture board
EWC code	19 12 07 (typed 191207)
Physical form	Solid
Containers	[ROR] Roll-on Roll-off container (RoRo), 1
Weight	6.4 Tonnes, actual
R or D code	R3 for 6.4 tonnes: R3 = 6.4 = Tonnes = No
POPs	No
Hazardous properties	No
Consignment note code	Not needed
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 wood recycling sites need digital waste tracking?

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

What EWC code is waste wood?

It depends where it came from: 17 02 01 from building and demolition, 19 12 07 from treating other waste, 20 01 38 from households and businesses, 15 01 03 for wooden packaging such as pallets.

Which wood codes are hazardous?

17 02 04*, 19 12 06* and 20 01 37*, wood containing or contaminated with dangerous substances. A load with one of those needs the consignment note code or a reason.

What R code is wood chipping?

Usually R3, recycling of organic substances. R13 if you only store the wood before it goes on. Your permit lists the codes you may use.

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 skip hire yards and transfer stationsThe codes yards really take, R13 or D15, weighing by skip size, and a filled-in example.
Digital waste tracking for composting sitesGreen waste codes, R3, open windrow or in-vessel, and a filled-in example.
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.
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.