Big changes coming for waste documentation

The Government has announced that from April 2025, we will move to a digital waste tracking system, replacing the current manual/paper-based system. In particular, hazardous waste consignment notes and waste transfer notes will no longer be required. Instead, the same data will need to be entered into an online app. This will change the way that collection points will need to collate and report their data.

But perhaps the most material impact for the Recolight community is that no data, and no consignment or waste transfer notes will be required where waste is moved by contractors who are not providing a specific waste management service.

The government is referring to this as “incidental waste”. They have not yet defined this further, but we think this means waste that arises as a consequence of the primary activity of the operator. This should mean that most “first movements” of incidental waste taken by a contractor to a collection point, will not require a consignment note, a waste transfer note, or any digital information to be input. Digital waste records will be required when the waste is moved from the collection point.

The costs to those users (such as collection points) who need to use the digital waste tracking service is £20/year. It is not yet clear if this is per site, or per organisation.

At Recolight, we consider these changes to be very welcome, and should reduce the administration burden for both contractors and collection points.

Further details of the changes are available at gov.uk/government/consultations