Straight answers to the questions people actually ask.

Whoever's at the gate opens the app on a phone, taps a load they've had before (that fills in the carrier and the waste), types the weight and ticket number, and saves. A repeat load takes about 20 seconds.

Want to see it first? Log a pretend load, no sign-up.

No. It runs in the web browser on a phone, tablet or computer. You can add it to your home screen so it opens like an app.

No. A load saved with no signal is kept on the phone and goes up by itself when the signal comes back.

Yes. Type them up the next day, and set Date & time received to when each one actually arrived, not when you are typing it. Each load's two working days run from the day it arrived. Keep them as separate loads, one record each.

One ticket is one load, and each load needs its own Save load. + Add waste item is for one ticket with two kinds of waste on it, so it adds to the same load rather than starting a second one. Save the first ticket, then start the next.

That box asks what the waste is in, not what brought it, and the list is Defra's own, so nothing else goes through. For a tipper, van or trailer that tips it out, pick Loose (no container). The vehicle goes in Vehicle registration, and you can type any plate there.

No. You type the weight from the ticket.

Yes, whenever you like. Under Export, Download every load gives you a spreadsheet of every load at all your sites, sent or not.

You link your Defra account once, by pasting your Defra API code into the app. The ten steps are here. Not sure the number you have is the code? Here is how to tell.

From 1 October each load goes to Defra about 20 minutes after it's saved, and “sent to Defra” appears next to it. The 20 minutes is there so a typo spotted at the gate can still be put right.

Give it 20 minutes. Under Loads, each one shows Defra's reference underneath once it has gone. Nothing in red means nothing is wrong. Red only ever means a problem, and it says what to change.

It's checked against Defra's rules before it saves, so problems are caught before they're sent. If Defra still turn one away, it's flagged to me with their reason and I'll tell you what to change. Once it's put right, Send to Defra now sends it again.

Spotted a mistake on a load Defra already have? How to correct it, and how long you have.

Nothing goes to Defra by itself before 1 October. Anything saved before then stays in the app, and only goes if you press Send to Defra now.

Under Export, Build Defra spreadsheet makes the file for Defra's own upload page. Then link your account, so the next ones go by themselves.

Two working days from the day after it arrives, not 48 hours, and weekends don't count. In on Monday, due by 23:59 on Wednesday. In on Friday, due by 23:59 on Tuesday, so nothing needs doing at the weekend. Every load is its own record. Bank holidays don't count: every due date over a bank holiday, worked out.

£89 per site, per month. No contract.

Start free: create an account, add your site, and the monthly fee is the whole price. Nothing is due until 1 November 2026; from 1 November 2026, every new site gets 14 days free, then £89 a month. If a consultant introduces you, they add your site for you, so it's ready before anyone logs in. 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.

Yes. That is Stripe checking the card works. The monthly is then taken on that card, not by direct debit, from the date shown when you signed up, and you can stop it any time.

Yes, Defra's own service charge: £26 a year per organisation, not per site. You pay it on your Defra account, under Service charge. The first is due by 31 January 2027.

Software providers can't pay it for you, and once it's due, Defra refuse loads from an organisation that hasn't paid until it has.

Each site is £89 a month. One Defra API code covers every site your organisation runs. A second company needs its own Defra registration, its own code and its own £26.

Yes. The price is per site, so everyone who works the gate can have their own login at no extra cost.

Yes, if you want them to. Under Give someone access, add them as your technically competent manager, and your site appears on their Clients screen. They can't register with Defra or pay the £26 for you; the permit holder does that. Once you have your API code, you can send it to your consultant or to me and it goes in for you.

If a consultant or TCM looks after your permit, ask them about Byrne Waste Tracking first. They can introduce you, I set your site up for you, and it shows on their Clients screen next to their other sites. The £89 a month per site is the same with or without a consultant. If a consultant introduces you, any setup fee is agreed through them and you see the amount before you pay anything. How that works.

No consultant? Start free yourself, with no setup fee.

In a data centre in London. In the app, only people on your account can see them.

Look the haulier up free on the Environment Agency's public register of waste carriers by their name or postcode, and copy the number it shows, starting CBDU or CBDL. Put it against that carrier once and the app fills it in next time. Step by step, with the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish registers.

The one your permit allows for what your site does with that load. A yard that stores waste and sends it on is usually R13, or D15 if it goes on for disposal. The usual code by type of site.

The producer classifies the waste and the code should come with it. Most sites use the same handful over and over, and the app offers the ones your site uses. The common codes by type of site.

No. Paper carries on alongside the digital service: waste transfer notes, Annex VII and hazardous consignment notes. Keep doing them as you do now.

The operator of a permitted site that receives waste, in England and Wales. Northern Ireland and Scotland start on 1 January 2027, on the same service. Exemption holders aren't part of the October start (more on exemptions; Scotland and Northern Ireland). Not sure about your site? The free permit check looks it up.

If age, disability or location makes it impractical, you can apply to your regulator to be digitally excluded and keep written records instead. In England that's the Environment Agency, on 03708 506 506.