WasteLinks Passes DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking Approval Test

There are milestones a young company works towards for a long time before they arrive, and this is one of them. We are delighted to share that WasteLinks has passed DEFRA's Production Approval Test for Digital Waste Tracking. Every scenario in the government's assessment came back as a pass, and our production credentials have now been issued.

For a platform built specifically around compliance, this is the result that matters most. It is the point at which our system stops being merely ready for the new rules and becomes proven against them, tested directly by the department that writes those rules. We are proud of it, and we are grateful to the DEFRA team for the care they put into the process.

What Digital Waste Tracking is, in plain terms

Digital Waste Tracking, or DWT, is the government's new national system for recording the movement of waste across the United Kingdom. For decades the record of a waste movement has lived on a paper transfer note, a PDF in an inbox or a line in a spreadsheet, with no single national picture of where waste actually goes. That gap is part of the reason waste crime costs the country around a billion pounds a year. Digital Waste Tracking replaces the paperwork with one central government record, so that regulators, carriers and the businesses that produce waste can all point to the same source of truth.

The service is being made mandatory in stages. Waste receiving sites, meaning transfer stations, material recovery facilities and household waste recycling centres, must report every load they accept from October 2026. Waste carriers, brokers and dealers follow from October 2027. Scotland runs to its own timetable and joins from January 2027. WasteLinks has been preparing for these dates since the service first entered public beta.

What the approval test actually involves

Before any software provider can connect to the live Digital Waste Tracking service, DEFRA puts it through a formal Production Approval Test. This is not a checkbox exercise. It is a fixed set of real-world scenarios that the software has to handle correctly, from a straightforward household collection through to hazardous loads carrying consignment notes, each one submitted to DEFRA's system and then reviewed against the evidence. Only when a provider handles every scenario correctly does DEFRA grant access to the production service.

WasteLinks passed all of them. With that approval confirmed and our production credentials issued, we are now completing the final steps to switch live reporting on for collections managed through the platform. We are rolling that out carefully and deliberately, because getting compliance right is the entire point of what we do.

What this means for waste carriers

If you are a waste carrier, the value is simple. The compliance work that is coming down the line, and the paperwork you already have to keep today, can be handled for you rather than added to your workload.

Every collection managed through WasteLinks already generates a Section 34 Waste Transfer Note automatically, filed in an archive you can export for an audit in seconds. Passing the approval test means that the same completed job can also produce the government digital record, without you filling in a separate form or logging into another portal after every collection. When Digital Waste Tracking reaches carriers in October 2027, the carriers already on WasteLinks will find the change largely handled for them.

It also means you are working with software that has been proven against the government system, rather than something assembled in a hurry as a deadline approaches. That head start is exactly why we are inviting carriers to join us now, ahead of launch.

What this means for customers and waste producers

If you are a business that produces waste, your duty of care rests on being able to show that your waste was handled and disposed of properly. Passing this test strengthens the evidence you can rely on. In time, a collection booked through WasteLinks will carry not only a transfer note but a link to the government tracking record for that movement, which is about as strong as duty of care evidence gets.

For customers the day to day experience does not change. You book a licensed carrier, the job gets done, and the compliance happens quietly in the background. What changes is the confidence that sits behind it.

An honest word on where we are

We believe in being straight about the stage we are at. Passing DEFRA's approval test and receiving our production credentials is a significant step, and it clears the path to live reporting. It does not mean every part of the platform is switched on for everyone overnight. We are pre-launch, we are onboarding our first carriers, and we are turning on live Digital Waste Tracking submissions in a measured way as we go. We would always rather tell you exactly where we are than dress it up.

What we can say plainly is this. The system works, it has been tested by the people who built the national service, and it passed.

Building compliance in from the start

Plenty of software can be made to produce a document. What is harder, and what this approval reflects, is building a platform where verification and compliance are part of the fabric rather than bolted on at the end. WasteLinks checks every carrier against the Environment Agency register and monitors that registration daily, validates businesses against Companies House at sign up, generates the statutory transfer note on every job, and now connects that same job to DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking service. It is one continuous chain, from booking to disposal to the government record, and it is the reason we exist.

If you are a waste carrier who wants to be ahead of the 2027 deadline, the best first step is to list your business on WasteLinks. If you are a business looking to book compliant collections, you can find a licensed carrier in your area. And you can explore the waste codes behind every collection in our waste codes library.

Frequently Asked Questions

Has WasteLinks been approved by DEFRA for Digital Waste Tracking?

Yes. WasteLinks has passed DEFRA's Production Approval Test for Digital Waste Tracking, which is the assessment a software provider must complete before it can connect to the live service. Every scenario in the test came back as a pass and our production credentials have been issued.

Does this mean my waste is already being tracked digitally through WasteLinks?

It means the capability is approved and the credentials are in place. We are switching on live Digital Waste Tracking submissions in a careful, staged way as we onboard carriers, rather than all at once. Every completed job already produces a Section 34 Waste Transfer Note today, regardless.

When does Digital Waste Tracking become mandatory?

Waste receiving sites in England, Wales and Northern Ireland must report the waste they accept from October 2026. Waste carriers, brokers and dealers follow from October 2027. Scotland joins from January 2027.

I am a waste carrier. What do I need to do?

Very little. Keep your WasteLinks profile and licence details up to date and the compliance records are generated for you. As the deadlines approach we will walk every carrier on the platform through DEFRA registration and connect it to their account. The best first step is to list your business on WasteLinks.

Is WasteLinks on the government list of approved software providers?

Passing the Production Approval Test is the assessment that stands behind that. We will share more as we complete each step of going live on the production service.