A waste transfer note app for the tablet in the yard
Skiplog is a waste transfer note app you fill in on a phone or tablet where the skip actually is, with the EA-mandated fields already on the form. One load, one note, under two minutes, then the lorry goes.
What a transfer note app has to survive: the weighbridge, not the desk
If you are looking for a waste transfer note app, you are probably not looking for a records system. You are looking for something a man in a hi-vis can finish while a lorry idles, on the device already in the hut.
Most yards still run a duplicate book. It works until it does not, and the failures are always the same ones:
- The carbon copy is unreadable by the time anyone needs it.
- The EWC code gets written from memory, or left blank to be filled in later.
- The note stays in the cab for a fortnight, then comes back soft and creased.
- The weight is copied off the weighbridge ticket once onto the note and again into a spreadsheet in the office.
- Nobody knows whether last Tuesday's muck away run was written up at all until somebody goes looking.
England is moving duty of care records off paper and onto digital waste tracking. The commencement date is published on gov.uk, and that is the place to check it rather than any vendor's website, including this one. The practical consequence for a yard with a handful of staff is the same whatever the date turns out to be: the record has to be created in a form a system can read, at the moment the waste changes hands, not reconstructed in biro afterwards.
A transfer note app earns its place by being faster than the book. If it is slower, the book wins, and the note gets written up later from memory. So Skiplog's note form is one screen carrying the EA-mandated fields it records, waste type, the EWC code, the quantity, carrier details and the destination site, on whichever device is charged and to hand. It saves on the device before it goes anywhere else, so a thick concrete wall between the hut and the nearest mast does not stop the load being recorded.
Filling in a note on the tablet
- Open the form where the skip is
The same note form runs on a phone or a tablet, so it works in the weighbridge hut, on the gate, or standing beside the skip with the driver. There is no separate office step to chase afterwards.
- Sign in and open a note
People sign in with an email address and a password, so the form comes up on whichever device is charged, and the note is written against your site rather than on a loose pad that lives in the cab.
- Name the waste and pick the EWC code
Waste description and the EWC code, the List of Waste code, are fields on the note itself, recorded at the point of transfer rather than guessed at by whoever types the paperwork up later.
- Put the quantity in
Read the weight straight off the weighbridge ticket and enter it as the quantity on the note, while the ticket is still in your hand and the load is still in front of you.
- Check the carrier and the destination
Who took the waste away, their registration number and where it went are on the same screen. The carrier and destination carry through from your last load, so a yard taking repeat loads from the same haulier is checking three fields rather than typing them, which is also why they are worth reading before you save.
- Save the note and keep its reference
Save and the load is filed against your site with the mandated fields on it, before the next lorry is on the weighbridge. The saved note has its own reference, the number to copy onto the carrier's ticket if you are reconciling the two later.
- Correct a note instead of starting again
A typed weight or a mis-picked code can be corrected from the register afterwards, and a note you take off the register still stays on file for the two years the regulations require, rather than vanishing out of the quarter.
What changes once the note is made digitally
The record exists before the driver is off the gate
A note written while the load, the driver and the weighbridge ticket are all in front of you is a different thing from one reconstructed on Friday afternoon. Nothing sits in a cab waiting to be typed up, so there is no backlog to reconcile at the end of the week.
Nobody has to be the compliance clerk
If the note is written where the skip is, there is no second pass where somebody retypes a duplicate book into a spreadsheet in the evening. The person who took the load in is the person who made the record, and the job is finished at the gate.
The tonnage adds itself up
Every saved note feeds the site operator dashboard, which shows the notes logged, tonnage by waste type and a compliance status overview. You can see what the yard has taken in without opening the duplicate book or a spreadsheet.
The quarterly return stops being a fortnight's work
Because the notes are already structured records, the quarterly EA return comes out as a one-click CSV export in the EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without manual reformatting.
A dead signal does not stop the load being recorded
Notes save on the device first, with a visible queued, syncing or synced status, and sync automatically when connectivity returns. The screens you have already opened are kept on the device too. There is a full page on offline capture in this section if that is the part you are weighing up.
What it costs, and what Skiplog does not claim
There are two plans, and the note form is in both of them. Annual is £1,188 a year, which works out at £99 a month billed once a year. Monthly is £129 a month, paid month by month. Each plan covers one site with unlimited transfer notes and unlimited registrations tracked, and each starts with a 60-day free trial. Card payments go through Stripe, so card details never touch Skiplog, and the application and its database run on Amazon Web Services.
Skiplog is built to help you meet the requirements of digital waste tracking. It does not guarantee a compliance outcome, and we will not write copy that says it does. Our terms of service say the same thing.
Four honest limits are worth saying out loud before you put your name down:
- A transfer note is only as good as what is typed into it. If the EWC code or the weight is wrong on the screen, it is wrong in the record.
- Skiplog records the fields named above. Duty of care paperwork can ask for more than that depending on the transfer, so check the current gov.uk guidance for your site rather than taking a vendor's field list as the whole of it.
- Hazardous loads, asbestos among them, move on a consignment note. Skiplog flags a hazardous EWC code on the form, but it does not produce the consignment note.
- Skiplog makes the record and builds the return file. Submitting it, and holding the duty of care, stays with the operator and the carrier.
Two things in your favour. A lapsed trial does not lock the records away: notes stay readable and exportable, because waste records have to span quarters and inspections. And a note you take off your register is not erased, it stays on file for the two years the regulations require.
Skiplog is not open yet. It is being built now, for UK skip yards and transfer stations with one to twenty staff, and the waitlist is how you get told when the note form is ready to try on your own yard tablet.
Questions
Is there an app for digital waste transfer notes?
That is what this part of Skiplog is. You open a note form on a phone or tablet, fill in waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination site, and save it as the record for that load. It is built to be completed in under two minutes.
Does it work without signal?
Notes save on the device first, with a visible queued, syncing or synced status, and they sync automatically when connectivity returns. A weighbridge hut behind a concrete wall is a normal place to be working, so the form is built to be used there.
What information must a waste transfer note contain?
Skiplog's form carries the EA-mandated fields it records: waste type, the EWC code, quantity, carrier details and the destination site. For the full legal wording, and anything a particular transfer needs on top, check the current duty of care guidance on gov.uk rather than relying on a software vendor's summary.
Can a note be corrected after it is saved?
Yes. A note on the register can be corrected, so a weight typed off the wrong ticket is not permanent. A note you remove comes off your register and your returns but stays on file for the two years the regulations require.
What about asbestos and other hazardous loads?
Hazardous waste moves on a consignment note, which Skiplog does not produce. The note form flags a hazardous EWC code so you know you are in that territory, but the consignment paperwork is handled outside Skiplog.
Do the notes feed the quarterly EA return?
Yes. Each saved note is already a structured record, so the quarter comes out as a one-click CSV export in the EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without manual reformatting. The site dashboard shows the notes logged and tonnage by waste type alongside it.
How do people sign in?
With an email address and a password. Each plan covers one site, with unlimited transfer notes and unlimited registrations tracked on it.
Can I try it in my yard now?
Not yet. Skiplog is in build, and the waitlist is the way to be told when the transfer note form is ready to put on a yard tablet.