Byrne Waste Tracking · Test results
- Last full test run
- 30 JULY 2026
- Next run
- 23 OCTOBER 2026
- Page updated
- 17 OCTOBER 2026
Defra test results and known limits
Defra's terms for software providers ask each provider to publish its test results and what its
software can't do, so you can decide for yourself. This is that page for Byrne Waste Tracking.
Please read this before you rely on the app. You are responsible for your own checks when you
choose software for digital waste tracking, and for satisfying yourself that it does what the
regulations need. Defra giving us access to their live service is not confirmation by Defra that the
software is compliant: Defra don't review or mark these results, and being on GOV.UK's list of
software providers only means the software can connect. The legal duty to report each load, and the
liability if it isn't done, stays with you as the operator, whatever the software does or doesn't do.
These points are also in our Terms, section 5.
Results on Defra's published test scenarios
Defra publish a set of test scenarios (they call them Production Approval Tests). Each provider runs them
against Defra's test service and checks the results for itself. Our last full run was on
30 July 2026, on Defra's integration (test) service. 12 of the 12 scenarios Defra publish now passed.
That run also included 2 scenarios Defra have since dropped from their published set (on 14 October 2026): C01, no carrier reg number AND no reason: passed: defra refused it, as it should; H02, hazardous, no consignment code, no reason: passed: defra refused it, as it should.
When they are run. After every material change to how the app captures, checks or sends a load,
and the dated record of each run is kept. The next full run is scheduled for 23 October 2026; this page
will then show its date and results. Between full runs, the sender files a test load on Defra's test
service every day to check the link, and the app's own tests check what it sends against Defra's
published description of their API before each release.
Defra's terms: API terms of service (updated
9 October 2026).
Known limits
Everything I know the app doesn't do, or hasn't been tested for. If something here matters for your
site, it's for you to decide what it means for your own reporting. Questions: email me.
Phase 2 (carriers, brokers and dealers) is not built yet
From October 2027 carriers, brokers and dealers come into digital waste tracking, and a site's receipt will need the carrier's Delivery ID or a reason it has none. Defra published a draft (beta) of that API on 16 October 2026. The app has none of the Phase 2 carrier features yet.
Scotland: SEPA's new numbers
SEPA's new carrier numbers (EAS/R/ and seven digits) are saved in the app, but Defra's service doesn't accept that format yet. Defra have said a fix is coming. A load with one is kept and tried again automatically until Defra take it, and the app says so when the number is typed. SEPA's newer permit numbers (EAS/P/ and seven digits) are accepted too, but Defra's list allows six digits, so Defra may refuse those loads until they update it. The duty in Scotland starts on 1 January 2027.
Northern Ireland and Wales
Northern Ireland has no regulations made yet (checked 17 October 2026); DAERA say January 2027. The app accepts Northern Ireland licence numbers but holds no Northern Ireland register. It doesn't hold the Welsh (Natural Resources Wales) permit register either, so Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish sites type their own site details. Deadlines count each nation's own bank holidays.
It doesn't decide whether you're in scope
Whether your site must report, and which movements count, is for you and your regulator. The app doesn't take waste exemptions, which are not in this phase.
What it checks before a load is saved
Every load is checked against Defra's own validation rules: the required boxes, the formats of carrier numbers, postcodes, permit numbers and codes, a weight on every line, and a consignment code (or a reason) for hazardous waste. Problems are caught before they're sent, and the app says what to change.
What it doesn't check
That the waste code, description or weight is right for the waste that actually came in. That a carrier's registration is still valid today: it can look a carrier up on the Environment Agency's register, but a number typed in is checked for its format only. It doesn't read a weighbridge, so weights are typed in.
The Day sheet doesn't take hazardous waste
The quick Day sheet refuses hazardous waste codes and sends you to New load, which asks for the extra details Defra need.
Corrections
A load Defra already hold can't be changed or deleted in the app. Corrections go through your Defra account, or email me. Sending a correction through Defra's API has been tested on Defra's test service only.
When Defra's service is down
The app keeps every load, says on screen that Defra's service is down, and sends each load once Defra answer again. It keeps a dated record of each outage with the loads that were waiting, for you to print or download under Export. It can't tell the regulator for you: regulation 6 asks you to do that (unless Defra have already said the service is down), and to get the loads entered within 7 days of the day after it's fixed. If Defra's service times out after it has stored a load, the retry can put a second copy at Defra: Defra's API gives no way to tell, and Defra don't remove duplicates. A load Defra have confirmed is never sent again.
Sending takes about 20 minutes
Loads go to Defra about 20 minutes after they're saved, so a typo spotted at the gate can be put right first. Until your company's Defra account is linked, nothing is sent: you upload Defra's spreadsheet yourself, and the app builds it.
Not filed by the app
Environment Agency tonnage returns, Scrap Metal Dealers Act records and SEPA's landspreading return are separate from digital waste tracking.