Digital waste tracking and hazardous waste consignment notes
Hazardous waste consignment notes and waste transfer notes are separate records, and digital waste tracking has not merged them into one. It adds a third job on top of both, reporting the detail of every load you take in to Defra's service, and that is the job Skiplog is built around for non-hazardous waste.
Three records at one gate
If your yard takes mixed skip waste all week and a hazardous load now and then, you are keeping more than one kind of record, and digital waste tracking does not fold them into each other.
The waste transfer note is the duty of care record for non-hazardous waste changing hands: waste description, EWC code, quantity, carrier name and registration, destination and date of transfer. The hazardous waste consignment note is a separate record with its own codes, its own copies and its own retention, and the rules for it sit with the regulator rather than with any software vendor. Reporting the waste you receive is a third job again, getting the detail of each load you take in into Defra's service, on their spreadsheet, inside the time the service allows.
Skiplog is built for the first and the third, and it is built so they are one piece of typing rather than two. The receipt of waste fields sit on the transfer note itself, so the person who weighed the load fills in one form at the weighbridge and the receipt row for Defra is built from what they wrote.
What travels on which record
| The load at the gate | The record it needs | What Skiplog does with it |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed skip waste, inert, wood, green waste | A waste transfer note, and a report of the load you received | Captures waste type, EWC code, weight, carrier and destination, and builds the receipt row in Defra's template column order for your yard to upload |
| Hazardous waste such as asbestos, waste oils or contaminated soil | A hazardous waste consignment note | Out of Skiplog's scope: that record follows the consignment process set out for your permit |
| A load Defra has accepted, then corrected in your own records | A correction back into Defra's service | Keeps the Defra reference against the note, records the old and new value of what changed, and marks it as a correction to report |
| A load Defra's upload rejected | A fixed row, reported again | Takes the date from the rejection notice and sets the new correction deadline from it |
What Skiplog does with a non-hazardous load
One form at the weighbridge
A digital transfer note with the EA-mandated fields, waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination site, built to be completable in under two minutes on a phone or tablet, with the receipt of waste fields on the same note.
A warning while the load is still there
The receipt validator also runs on the note form when you save, so a field that would fail Defra's upload is flagged at the weighbridge rather than found a week later in a bounced spreadsheet.
Rows checked before they leave
On the receipts screen every row is checked against Defra's upload rules. The export sends only the rows that pass, says how many are held back, and links each failing row to the field that needs fixing.
Defra's column order, not yours
Pick a date range and the receipts export writes the rows in the template's column order, for your yard to upload to the service.
The clock on each load you took in
A dashboard card lists the notes you have not reported yet, grouped as overdue, due today and due tomorrow against the two working days the service allows, so nothing depends on a separate list in a notebook.
The reference, and the rejection
Confirm a batch is uploaded and each note in it is stamped as reported, with Defra's waste tracking reference stored against it. If Defra rejects a load, record the date on the notice and the new deadline is set from that date.
What the office keeps, and for how long
A reported load is not the end of the record. Each transfer note holds the waste, its codes and weight, when it came in, form and containers, POPs and hazard details, carrier and vehicle and destination, and those are the fields the receipt of waste service asks for on every load. Your site's permit or exemption number, address and contact details live on the site screen, so every note and every return is headed with the receiver's details rather than typed again.
Retention periods differ by record, and the hazardous side is generally the longer of them, so confirm both against your own guidance rather than memory. In Skiplog, everything you record is kept while the account is open, because waste records have to span quarters and inspections. A note you remove comes off your register and your returns but stays on file for the two years the regulations require. A lapsed trial does not lock the records away, they stay readable and exportable. Deleting the account removes it all at once, so download anything the EA may still ask for first.
The quarter's notes come out as an EA return, a one-click CSV export in a configurable EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without reformatting by hand.
Questions
What is the difference between a transfer note and a consignment note?
A transfer note is the duty of care record for non-hazardous waste changing hands: what the waste is, its EWC code, how much of it there is, who carried it and where it went. A consignment note is the record for hazardous waste, and more parties have something to complete on it as the load moves from the producer through the carrier to the receiving site. The practical difference in a yard is who touches the paper and how long it has to be kept. Get the waste classification right first, because that is what decides which record you are writing.
Does a load I take in still have to be reported to Defra as waste received?
Whether a given load is in scope is set out in Defra's own guidance on checking the waste you receive, so start there and confirm it against your permit. If it is in scope, Skiplog builds the receipt row from the note you already wrote, checks it against the upload rules, and shows the loads you have not reported yet on the dashboard, grouped as overdue, due today and due tomorrow against the two working days the service allows. When you confirm a batch is uploaded, each note is stamped as reported and Defra's reference can be stored against it.
How do I know a receipt row will pass before I upload it?
Every row on the receipts screen is checked against Defra's upload rules before it goes anywhere. The export sends only the rows that pass, tells you how many are held back, and links each failing row to the field that needs fixing. The same check runs on the transfer note form when you save, so most of the fixing happens at the weighbridge with the ticket still in hand rather than against a two day clock after a spreadsheet bounces.
What happens if Defra rejects a load?
Mark the receipt as rejected, enter the date on the rejection notice, and the new correction deadline is set from that date rather than from when you first reported it. Fix the row, report it again, and keep the reference once it is accepted. If a load Defra has already accepted is corrected or removed in your own records, the note is marked as a correction to report, with the reference it went in under and the old and new value of what changed held against it.
How long do we have to keep each record?
Transfer notes are retained for the period the regulations set, and hazardous consignment records are generally held for longer, so confirm both periods on gov.uk rather than relying on what the last inspector said. In Skiplog, everything you record is kept while the account is open, and a note you remove comes off your register and your returns but stays on file for the two years the regulations require. A lapsed trial does not lock the records away. Deleting the account removes it all at once, so export first.
What should a yard taking mixed waste do before the mandate?
Separate the two flows on purpose. Keep the hazardous route on the paperwork its own rules require, and decide who completes it and where the copies live. Then get the non-hazardous flow off the pad in the cab, so the receipt rows and the quarter's return both come out of the notes you already wrote, and agree who writes the note at the weighbridge and when, because that is the habit that has to hold once tracking goes live. Our pages on the mandate date and on what changes in 2026 set out the timing, the small yard page covers a single site with one to twenty staff, repeat collections on the same terms have a page of their own, and the page on submitting on your behalf explains who presses send.