Digital Waste Tracking: What Food Businesses Need to Know

Digital waste tracking is a government online service that records waste as it moves, from the business that produces it to the site that deals with it. The aim is a clear record of where waste goes at every stage of its journey.

It's designed to replace outdated ways of recording waste with one digital system. The aim is to help regulators spot waste crime, like fly-tipping and illegal exports, and to make it easier for honest businesses to show they're doing things right.

The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 came into force on 1 October 2026.

They apply to permitted waste sites: places like recycling plants, treatment sites and landfills that hold an environmental permit and receive waste.

Those sites must now record every load they receive on the government's system, within two working days. For each load, they record details like a description of the waste, its waste code, how much there is and who brought it.

Waste collectors are next. The government's plan says the service will be mandatory for waste collectors from October 2027. We already log ours: every waste transfer note we issue is recorded and reported to the government's system.

For now, waste transfer notes carry on as normal alongside digital tracking.

• 1 October 2026: mandatory for permitted waste sites in England.
• October 2027: planned to become mandatory for waste collectors.
• Businesses that produce waste: no date in the latest plans.

If you run a restaurant, takeaway, pub or any other food business, you're a waste producer. The current rules don't ask you to use the digital system yourself.

The site that receives your oil records it digitally. From October 2027, your collector is due to do the same.

Earlier government plans suggested that producers may one day need to confirm the details their collector enters for them. The latest plans don't give a date for that. If anything changes for you, your collector should tell you.

In the long run, the government has said digital waste tracking will replace the waste transfer notes you get today. That hasn't happened yet.

Until the rules change, keep getting a waste transfer note for your waste, and keep each one for at least two years.

Digital waste tracking doesn't change your duty of care. You still have to make sure your waste goes to someone who is allowed to take it, and keep the right paperwork.

• Use a registered waste carrier. You can check any carrier on the Environment Agency's public register.
• Get a waste transfer note that describes your waste, including its waste code.
• Keep your waste transfer notes for at least two years.
• Store your oil so it can't leak or spill: in barrels with lids, away from drains.

With Circoil, your waste transfer note is emailed after every collection. We're registered with the Environment Agency as an Upper Tier Waste Carrier, Broker & Dealer, CBDU622700.

Digital tracking is designed to help regulators catch waste crime, like fly-tipping. When your oil goes to a registered collector and a permitted site, there's a clear record of where it went.

And your waste transfer notes show you've met your duty of care.

• Are you registered with the Environment Agency, and what's your registration number?
• Will I get a waste transfer note for every collection?
• Where does my oil go after you collect it?
• Will anything change for me when collectors move to digital tracking in October 2027?

A collector who takes the rules seriously should be happy to answer all four.

• Check your collector is on the Environment Agency public register.
• Get a waste transfer note for every collection, and keep each one for two years.
• Keep your oil in barrels with lids, away from drains.