Do you still need waste transfer notes under digital waste tracking?
Yes, for now. Digital waste tracking adds a reporting duty from 1 October 2026. It does not remove the transfer note. Here is what changes and when.
Digital waste tracking starts to become mandatory in October 2026, and it raises an obvious question. Do you still need waste transfer notes? Yes, for now. The new rules add a digital reporting duty. They do not remove the transfer note. Here is what changes, and when.
What changes on 1 October 2026
From 1 October 2026, permitted sites that receive waste must record what they take in on the government's digital waste tracking service. That covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland follows in January 2027. The site records each load it receives within two working days.
What changes for carriers
Carriers, brokers and dealers follow from 1 October 2027. If your business both carries waste and runs a receiving site, the earlier date applies to you.
What does not change
The duty of care still stands. Every transfer of non-hazardous waste still needs a waste transfer note, and an annual waste transfer note, the season ticket, still covers repeat collections for up to 12 months. Keep issuing your notes exactly as you do today, and keep them for two years. The digital service runs alongside them, not instead of them.
What to do now
Nothing about the transfer note itself changes yet, but the direction is clear. Waste records are going digital. Moving to digital waste transfer notes now means the October 2026 duty is a button, not a project. Consigns files receipts to DEFRA for the loads that need it, and your transfer notes are already digital when the carrier rules land in 2027.
The rule of thumb is simple. The note stays. The reporting goes digital. Get the note digital now and the rest follows.