Recycling facilities: tonnage by waste type, ready for the quarter
Skiplog is waste compliance software for UK recycling facilities, built so that a permitted site can record every load as a digital waste transfer note and see its tonnage by waste type without opening a spreadsheet. At quarter end the same records come out as a one-click CSV in a configurable EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without manual reformatting.
How a recycling facility keeps its records today
A permitted recycling site already runs a paper trail. The wagon comes over the weighbridge, the ticket prints, someone writes a transfer note in a duplicate book or on a pad in the cabin, and a copy goes in the office tray. The EWC code gets picked at the gate, sometimes off a laminated card on the wall. Somewhere there is a spreadsheet, usually on one PC, usually maintained by one person.
That works until the quarter closes. Then the records have to be turned into a return: loads counted, weights added up, tonnage split by waste type, EWC codes matched to the right lines. On a mixed site that is not one stream, it is a dozen. Wood, rubble, plasterboard, metals, mixed construction and demolition, green waste, cardboard, fines. Each one has to land in the right place.
What actually makes it hard
- The split, not the total. A weighbridge tells you what came in. The return wants it broken out by waste type, and that split is usually rebuilt by hand from tickets weeks after the load left the yard.
- The office copy arrives late, or creased, or not at all. A note written in a cab in the rain is a note someone has to decipher in March.
- Signal dies where the work happens. Inside a steel picking shed or behind a bay wall, a cloud form that needs a live connection is no use to the person holding the tablet.
- Nobody on site is a compliance clerk. On a site with one to twenty staff, records are done by the technically competent manager on a Friday evening, after the gate shuts.
- The deadline is moving toward everyone. The DEFRA digital waste tracking mandate arrives in October 2026, and the sites that will find it easiest are the ones already capturing loads digitally as they happen rather than transcribing them later.
Skiplog is built for that gap. It is the compliance record: the note, the tonnage, the quarterly export.
The workflow on a recycling site
- Weigh the load, then log it at the point it happens
The operator opens Skiplog on a phone or tablet and creates the waste transfer note with the EA-mandated fields: waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination site. It is built to be completable in under two minutes, so it can be done while the wagon is still on the weighbridge rather than from a pile of tickets later.
- The note saves on the device first
Capture is offline first. The note is written to the device before anything is sent, and it carries a visible status of queued, syncing or synced, so the person holding the tablet can see where the record stands. When connectivity returns, the note syncs automatically.
- The dashboard adds it up as the quarter runs
The site operator dashboard shows how many WTNs have been logged, tonnage by waste type, and a compliance status overview. That means the split you need for the return is visible in week three, not reconstructed in week thirteen.
- Keep the paperwork behind the gate in view
The licence and registration dashboard tracks your waste carrier, broker or dealer registrations with their expiry dates, and is set up to send an email alert for any registration expiring within 30 days.
- Export the quarter in one click
At quarter end, generate the EA return as a CSV in a configurable EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without manual reformatting. No pivot table, no retyping tonnages into a fresh sheet, no last evening spent reconciling a duplicate book against a spreadsheet.
What this changes for a recycling facility
The waste type split is a by-product of the work
Because the EWC code and quantity are captured on the note at the gate, tonnage by waste type is already assembled on the dashboard. The quarter stops being a rebuild job and becomes a read.
Quarter end is an export, not a project
One click produces the CSV in the EA-specified column layout, in the columns you have set for your returns. The work that used to sit with whoever knows the spreadsheet is no longer a bottleneck around one person.
The shed and the far bay are covered
Notes save locally first and sync when signal comes back, with the status shown on screen. A weak connection in a steel building delays the sync, not the record.
You can see where the site stands mid-quarter
The compliance status overview and the count of WTNs logged mean a manager can check the position on a Tuesday morning rather than finding out at the deadline.
Registrations do not expire quietly
Expiry dates for carrier, broker and dealer registrations sit on one dashboard, with an email alert configured for anything inside 30 days.
The records stay readable, including the two-year tail
Everything 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 return you have already sent to the EA can be re-downloaded unchanged, and a lapsed trial does not lock the records away: they stay readable and exportable.
Priced for a site with no compliance clerk
One site, unlimited transfer notes and unlimited registrations tracked, for £1,188 a year, which is £99 a month billed annually, or £129 a month month to month. Both plans start with a 60-day free trial.
The quarter, two ways
| The job | Duplicate books and a spreadsheet | With Skiplog |
|---|---|---|
| Recording a load | Handwritten note in the cab, copy to the office tray | Digital WTN with EA-mandated fields on a phone or tablet, built for under two minutes |
| Losing signal in the yard | Write it on paper and hope it gets typed up | Note saves to the device with a queued, syncing or synced status and syncs when connectivity returns |
| Knowing your tonnage by waste type | Add up tickets by stream at quarter end | Shown on the site operator dashboard as the quarter runs |
| Producing the EA return | Rebuild a sheet and reformat columns by hand | One-click CSV export in a configurable EA-specified column layout |
| Watching registration expiry | A note in a diary, or nothing | Expiry dates on a dashboard with email alerts inside 30 days |
| Keeping two years of records | Box files, and whichever PC the sheet lives on | Kept while the account is open, readable and exportable, with removed notes held for the two years the rules require |
| Trying it before you commit | Nothing to try | A 60-day free trial on either plan, so a full quarter's habits form before the first charge |
What it will cost a site
Annual, £1,188 a year
The same product paid once for the year, which works out at £99 a month. One site, unlimited waste transfer notes, unlimited registrations tracked. Billing runs through Stripe, and the plan starts with a 60-day free trial, so two months of real loads go through the app before the first charge.
Monthly, £129 a month
The same product paid month by month for sites that do not want to commit to a year, cancel whenever you like. Also one site, unlimited notes and unlimited registrations, also billed through Stripe, also with the 60-day free trial.
What Skiplog does not claim
Skiplog is made to help a recycling facility meet its record keeping and reporting requirements. It does not guarantee a compliance outcome, and it cannot. The return is only as good as what was typed at the weighbridge, and the Agency's formats and rules can change. What Skiplog is built to do is remove the manual reformatting and the quarter-end reconstruction, and put the tonnage split in front of the person responsible while there is still time to act on it.
It is also narrow on purpose. Skiplog is not a weighbridge system, not a job booking or skip hire operations suite, and not a route planner. People sign in with an email address and a password, and the people you add to the site each sign in as themselves, so the weighbridge and the office are not sharing one login. There is no single sign-on and no two-factor sign-in today. The service and its database run on Amazon Web Services, card payments go through Stripe so card details never touch Skiplog, and Resend carries password resets, expiry reminders and invites. Deleting the account from the billing screen removes the account, the site and every record on it at once, so download anything the EA still needs from you first. That is the whole shape of it.
Questions
Does Skiplog submit the quarterly return to the Environment Agency for me?
No. Skiplog generates the return as a one-click CSV export in a configurable EA-specified column layout, so it is ready to submit without manual reformatting. You submit it.
Can it record a load when there is no signal in the shed?
Yes. Capture is offline first. The transfer note saves to the device before anything is sent, shows a queued, syncing or synced status on screen, and syncs automatically when connectivity returns.
How does it know my tonnage by waste type?
From the notes themselves. Each WTN carries the waste type, EWC code and quantity, and the site operator dashboard adds them up into tonnage by waste type alongside the count of WTNs logged and a compliance status overview.
Is Skiplog approved by DEFRA?
We make no approval claim. Skiplog is pre-configured for EA formats and built to help operators meet the mandate's requirements, and its terms are written to reflect that rather than to promise a compliance outcome.
How long does a transfer note take on a tablet?
It is built to be completable in under two minutes on mobile or tablet, with the EA-mandated fields: waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination site.
Will it remind me before my waste carrier registration expires?
Yes. The licence and registration dashboard shows expiry dates, and email alerts are set for registrations expiring within the next 30 days.
What does it cost and is there a trial?
£1,188 a year on the annual plan, which is £99 a month billed annually, or £129 a month month to month. Both plans cover one site with unlimited transfer notes and unlimited registrations tracked, and both start with a 60-day free trial. Subscription billing runs through Stripe.
What happens to the site's records if the trial runs out?
They stay. Everything is kept while the account is open, because waste records have to span quarters and inspections, and a lapsed trial does not lock the records away: they remain readable and exportable. People sign in with an email address and a password, and the service is hosted on Amazon Web Services.