Guides › Switching software
Choosing · Moving from other software
- For
- Anyone changing software
- Deadline
- STILL 2 WORKING DAYS
- Written by
- WILF BYRNE
- Checked
- 1 NOVEMBER 2026
Switching digital waste tracking software
If your software has stopped, or you just want to move, each load still has to reach Defra within 2 working days. Here's how to move without missing one, and without sending one twice.
- Deadline
- Still running. 2 working days, starting the day after the waste arrives. Nothing pauses while you change software.
- Stuck today?
- Defra's own spreadsheet needs no software. Use it for today's loads.
- Your Defra code
- Belongs to your organisation, not your old supplier. Make a new one in Defra's service and paste it in.
- Old records
- Get a copy with Defra's references while you still can.
- Cost
- 14 days free, then from £89 a site a month. No contract, nothing to install.
Moving, step by step
- Today's loads first. Keep the tickets. If nothing is working, use
Defra's spreadsheet or go straight to step 3. You can mix the
two GOV.UK.
- Get a copy of what's gone to Defra. Ask your old software for a spreadsheet of every load with its
waste tracking reference. Defra tell software providers to let customers export their data
Defra terms. Do it first: no software can pull your old loads back out of Defra's
API.
- Sign up. Start free, and add your site. No card until you start the subscription.
- Make a new Defra code. Sign in to Defra, choose Report receipt of waste, then Manage my API
code, then Create additional code. Copy it. In Byrne Waste Tracking go to Sites, then Send
loads to Defra automatically, paste it and save. Already registered with Defra? That part takes minutes.
Every step, with a tick list.
- Send one real load and check it. About 20 minutes after you save it, “sent to Defra” and
Defra's reference appear next to it. That's your proof it works.
- Then switch the old one off. Once your old software has stopped sending, press Disable on its
code in Defra's service. Any notice period on your old contract is between you and them.
Never send a load twice. Defra don't remove duplicates and their API has no delete. Pick a
ticket number or a time to change over. Everything before it stays with the old software, everything after it
comes here.
What to do with old records
- Already at Defra. Leave them there and keep your copy. Don't bring them in here: loads you bring in go
to Defra on their own about 20 minutes later, so they'd go twice.
- Never reached Defra. Bring them in from a spreadsheet: in the app, Export, then Bring in
loads from a spreadsheet. You see every row checked before anything saves. Each load is still due by its
own date, and a late one is still late. Hazardous loads go in through New load, one at a time.
- Wrong, and the old software sent it. Correct it in Defra's service using its waste tracking reference.
Deadlines and how. That's why you want the references.
- Paper. Transfer notes and consignment notes carry on as before.
What stays the same.
- If you ever leave here. Your records stay yours. You can download a spreadsheet of every load at any
time, and it stays readable for 30 days after you close the account.
Straight answers
Questions people ask
Can I use the same Defra API code?
Defra describe the code as identifying your organisation, and say an organisation manages its own codes. Nothing they publish ties a code to one supplier. A new code is still the better way: Defra's screen says to give each provider its own, and you can switch the old one off without touching the new one.
Do the 2 working days stop while I change software?
No. The Regulations have an outage rule for things beyond your control that stop you entering a record, but they don't say whether your software stopping counts, and Defra's spreadsheet is still there. Use the spreadsheet. If you really can't, keep a written record of each load and tell your regulator.
My old supplier set up my Defra account. What now?
The account should be in your organisation's name, with your organisation's sign-in. If you can't get in, ring Defra's technical helpdesk on 03000 203 781, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.
Do I pay Defra's £26 again?
No. It's £26 a year per organisation, paid to Defra. Changing software doesn't change it.
Is there a contract?
No. You pay month to month and can cancel any time.
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