Is any waste tracking software 'approved by DEFRA'?
As far as we can find, there is no DEFRA approval scheme for waste tracking software and no certification mark a supplier can wear. There is a list of software providers published on gov.uk for reporting receipt of waste, which is a compatibility list rather than an approval, so the useful question is whether a system produces the records your yard has to file, and files them inside the time allow
Why this question keeps coming up
If you have searched this, you have probably had a sales email or seen a badge on a website using the words DEFRA approved, and you want to know whether it means anything before you sign a twelve month contract for your yard.
We have found no approval scheme and no certification mark for waste tracking software. What gov.uk does publish is a list of software providers for reporting receipt of waste, so a receiving site can find a system that works with the service. That is a compatibility list, not an endorsement of a supplier, and being on it says nothing about whether a note can be written on a tablet at a weighbridge in the rain. Alongside it sit the requirements themselves: the information a waste movement has to carry, what a permitted site reports when it takes a load in, how long it has to report it, and the layout the Environment Agency wants a quarterly return in.
The approvals that matter to an operator are the ones with your name on them. Your environmental permit. Your waste carrier, broker or dealer registration. Those sit with the Environment Agency, they renew on their own dates, and they are yours to hold whatever software you buy.
So the question worth asking a supplier is narrower and more useful. Can a load be captured on a tablet in under a couple of minutes, with the fields the rules ask for? Does it keep working when the signal drops behind the picking shed? Will the receipt rows go into Defra's spreadsheet in the right column order, and will you know before you upload that they will not bounce? Can a wrong weight or EWC code be put right afterwards, including one Defra has already accepted? Does the quarterly return come out in the layout your area office wants, without a morning in a spreadsheet? Our guide to choosing waste tracking software for a small permitted site works through that list in order. The questions below are the ones operators tend to ask first.
Questions
Is there an official list of DEFRA approved waste tracking software?
Not an approval list, no. We have found no approval scheme and no certification mark for this kind of software. What gov.uk publishes is a list of software providers for reporting receipt of waste, which tells a receiving site that a system works with the service, not that DEFRA has vetted or recommended it. Skiplog is not launched yet and is not on that list: it is built for the spreadsheet route, producing receipt rows in the column order of Defra's own template for your yard to upload. If a supplier tells you they are approved, ask them which page says so and read that page rather than the brochure.
What do suppliers mean when they say DEFRA compliant or DEFRA ready?
Usually they mean their system captures the fields the rules ask for and that they intend to keep pace with format changes. That is a reasonable thing to build towards, and it is how Skiplog describes itself, in its marketing and in its terms of service: built to help you meet the requirements, not to guarantee a compliance outcome. No software can make a record accurate if the weight off the weighbridge ticket or the EWC code is typed in wrong. Treat the phrase as a description of intent, then test the intent on one real load.
Will the software report to Defra on my behalf?
Skiplog is built to produce the rows, not to press send. The receipts screen takes a date range and exports in the column order of Defra's template, and your yard uploads that file to the receipt of waste service. The same note also produces the quarterly Environment Agency return as a one-click CSV export in a configurable EA column layout, ready to submit without reformatting. If a supplier claims direct submission for you, ask to see it working end to end, and check gov.uk for what the service itself allows.
How do I know the spreadsheet will not bounce when I upload it?
This is the part that burns a yard's reporting window, because the clock keeps running while you work out which row is wrong. Skiplog checks every receipt row against Defra's upload rules on the receipts screen before anything leaves the yard. 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. The same check runs on the transfer note form when the note is saved, so a missing container count or hazard detail is flagged at the weighbridge rather than a fortnight later.
How do I keep track of which loads I still have to report?
Skiplog is built to show that on the dashboard: a card of the notes not yet reported, grouped as overdue, due today and due tomorrow, against the two working days the receipt of waste service allows for reporting a load you take in. After a receipts download it asks whether you have uploaded them, and on confirmation stamps each note in that batch as reported. You can store Defra's waste tracking reference against a receipt, and mark one rejected with the date on the rejection notice, which sets a fresh correction deadline. If you then correct a note Defra has already accepted, it is flagged as a correction to report, with the reference it went in under.
Who is responsible if my records are wrong, and can one be put right?
You are. Duty of care and the conditions on your permit sit with the operator and the registered carrier, not with a software supplier, so the practical question is what happens to a mistake. In Skiplog a transfer note you remove comes off your register and off your returns, but stays on file for the two years the regulations require, so there is still something an inspector can be shown, and a correction to a note already accepted by Defra keeps the old and new value of what changed. The framing above holds here too: the software is help with meeting the requirements, not a promise about an enforcement outcome. Our page on what happens to your records if the trial lapses or you cancel covers the retention side.
Does it need signal in the yard?
It should not, and that is worth testing before you buy anything. Skiplog is built offline first: a note saves to the device first and shows a visible queued, syncing or synced status, then syncs on its own when connectivity returns. What the device holds while it waits, and what happens to it when you sign out, is set out on the security page. Ask any supplier to demonstrate the same thing on a tablet with the connection switched off, in the worst corner of your site, not on office wifi.
When can I get Skiplog, and what will it cost?
It is in build for the October 2026 mandate and not open to customers yet, so the waitlist is the way in. Two plans are set: Annual at £1,188 a year, which works out at £99 a month, and Monthly at £129 a month, both with a 60-day free trial. Either plan covers one site with unlimited transfer notes and unlimited registrations tracked, and both include the receipt-of-waste rows for Defra's spreadsheet, the quarterly EA return, carrier, broker and dealer registration tracking with expiry reminders, and a site dashboard with tonnage by waste type. The pricing page has the rest, and the free trial page covers what the trial includes.