One note, the quarterly return and the Defra receipt
If you are reporting each load you take in to Defra's waste tracking service and still producing a quarterly return for the Environment Agency, this page is about doing both from one record. Skiplog is built so the note written at the weighbridge becomes the receipt row Defra's template asks for and the quarterly return CSV, without the load being typed twice.
The load that has to be written down three times
A load comes through the gate. The carrier hands over a ticket, the weighbridge gives you a figure, and someone writes a transfer note on a pad in the cabin. That part has worked for years.
What changed is where the note has to end up. Since 1 October 2026 a permitted receiving site reports the waste it takes in to Defra's digital waste tracking service, load by load, and the deadline for getting a load in is counted in working days, not weeks. The quarterly return your permit asks for has not gone away. So the same load is written on the note, typed into Defra's spreadsheet a day later, and then counted again when the quarter closes.
Where it goes wrong
Yards of one to twenty staff do all of this with a pad, a filing cabinet and one person who knows where everything is. The weak point is not the paperwork, it is the retyping. A ticket entered into a second system the next morning, from a copy, by someone who was not at the gate, is a ticket that can be entered wrong, entered late, or missed. And the quarterly return is only ever as good as the pile of file copies it was reconstructed from.
The job, put the way the operators this was built for put it: report every load to Defra on their spreadsheet and nobody else's, and do not type every ticket twice.
One record, two submissions
- Write the note at the weighbridge
The digital waste transfer note carries the EA-mandated fields: waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination site. It is built to be completed in under two minutes on a phone or tablet, standing at the bridge with the carrier's ticket in your other hand.
- Let it save where there is no signal
Notes save to the device first and carry a visible status of queued, syncing or synced, then go up on their own when connectivity returns. The gate does not stop because the mast is poor.
- Pull the receipt rows for Defra
The receipts screen sits next to the quarterly return. Pick a date range and Skiplog exports the receipt rows in Defra's template column order, so the file is ready for their service without anything being rearranged. Your yard does the upload, on your own account.
- Generate the quarterly return from the same notes
At quarter end, a one-click CSV export in a configurable EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without manual reformatting. It is built from the notes already on the register, not from file copies.
- Look at the quarter before you send it
The site dashboard shows the transfer notes logged, tonnage by waste type and a compliance status overview, so you can see what the return is made of before anything leaves the yard.
What this changes for a yard with no compliance clerk
The ticket is typed once
The weighbridge writes the note. The Defra receipt row and the quarterly return are both exports of that same record, so nobody re-keys the day's loads into a second spreadsheet in the evening.
Defra's column order, not a conversion job
Receipt rows come out in the order their template expects, so the file is not a morning of moving columns about before it will go.
A date range you choose
Export receipts for the dates you actually need, whether that is yesterday's loads or a gap you have just noticed.
The return is not a reconstruction
The quarterly CSV is generated from the notes on the register, so the quarter is not rebuilt from whatever survived in the cabinet.
Built for gloved hands
Note completion in under two minutes on mobile or tablet, because the queue behind the weighbridge does not wait for a laptop.
Your area office's columns
The EA return layout is configurable, so the file you download matches the column layout you are asked to submit.
A price a small yard can hold
£129 a month, or £99 a month billed once a year, with a 60-day free trial. One site, unlimited transfer notes, unlimited registrations tracked.
The two jobs, side by side
| The job | How often | What Skiplog produces |
|---|---|---|
| The transfer note for the load | Every load through the gate | A digital WTN with the EA-mandated fields: waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details, destination site. Under two minutes on mobile or tablet. |
| Report the waste you receive to Defra | Load by load, inside the window Defra's guidance sets | Receipt rows for a date range you pick, exported from the receipts screen in Defra's template column order, for your yard to upload. |
| Quarterly return to the Environment Agency | Once a quarter | One-click CSV export in a configurable EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without manual reformatting. |
Spreadsheet by hand, or one record that feeds both
There is a free route, and it is worth naming honestly. Defra's service takes a spreadsheet, and a yard taking a handful of loads a day can type them in.
What the manual route costs
Every load is entered twice, once on the note at the gate and once in the template afterwards, and the second entry happens from a ticket, later, by someone who did not see the skip. The reporting window is short, so the typing has to happen on a schedule rather than when the office is quiet. And the quarterly return is still a separate afternoon of work at the end of every three months.
What the single record asks of you instead
A subscription, and the habit of writing the note on the tablet at the bridge rather than on a pad. From there the note is the record. The receipt row and the quarterly return are both downloads of it, in the column order each one wants.
That trade is worth making at the point where re-keying has quietly become someone's regular afternoon, or where nobody in the yard wants to own that afternoon at all. Below that point, the spreadsheet by hand is a reasonable answer and we would rather say so.
What Skiplog does not do
- It does not submit to Defra for you. Skiplog produces the receipt rows in their template's column order. Your yard uploads them to the waste tracking service, under your own account.
- It does not decide whether your site is in scope. GOV.UK publishes guidance for checking whether you need to report the waste you receive, and that is the place to settle the question.
- It helps you meet the requirements, it does not guarantee a compliance outcome. A weight typed wrong at the bridge is still a weight typed wrong, and a change to Defra's format is outside any software's control. The records are yours and so are the figures in them.
What it costs
Annual, £1,188 a year
The same product for £99 a month, billed once a year, for yards that plan a season ahead. 60-day free trial. One site, unlimited transfer notes, unlimited registrations tracked.
Monthly, £129 a month
The same product paid month by month, cancel whenever you like. 60-day free trial. One site, unlimited transfer notes, unlimited registrations tracked.
Questions
Does Skiplog send my loads to Defra's waste tracking service for me?
No. Skiplog exports the receipt rows for a date range you pick, in the column order Defra's template uses, so the file is ready to go up. Your yard uploads it to the service under your own account.
Do I have to enter a load twice, once for the receipt report and once for the quarterly return?
No. That is the whole point of this page. The transfer note written at the weighbridge is the record. The Defra receipt rows and the quarterly EA return CSV are both exports of the same notes.
Do I still have to produce a quarterly return now that I report receipts to Defra?
What your permit requires of you is set out in the Environment Agency's waste returns guidance on GOV.UK, and that is the place to confirm it. If you do owe a return, Skiplog generates it as a one-click CSV from the notes you have already recorded.
Can I choose which dates go into a receipts export?
Yes. The receipts screen takes a date range, so you can export yesterday's loads, the last few days, or a gap you have just spotted, rather than being handed a fixed period.
My area office asks for the return in a particular column layout. Can Skiplog match it?
The quarterly return exports in an EA-specified column layout that is configurable, so the file comes out in the columns you are asked to submit rather than a layout you then have to rearrange.
What happens at the weighbridge when the signal drops?
Notes save to the device first and show a status of queued, syncing or synced on the note itself, then sync automatically when connectivity returns. The load is written down at the moment it is weighed, not later from memory.
How long are my records kept?
Everything stays 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 records away: they stay readable and exportable. Deleting the account removes it all at once.
Can I try it before I commit?
Both plans carry a 60-day free trial. Skiplog is on a waitlist today, so the first step is to put your yard's name down and we will tell you when a trial can be started.