Digital waste tracking to fight rogue traders

The government has launched a Digital Waste Tracking service to fight rogue waste traders.

The service will follow every piece of permitted waste across the country in real time.

Businesses will be required to create a real-time audit trail for the waste they handle, under new laws being laid in parliament.

Currently, waste consignments are tracked using a largely paper-based system.

The new digital approach The new approach for tracking waste will provide faster, more reliable data, helping to identify suspicious activity and support enforcement bodies to target action against rogue operators breaking the law. It will also make it easier for waste producers and legitimate operators to meet their reporting requirements.

The service will become mandatory for permitted waste receiving sites in England, Northern Ireland and Wales from October 2026 and Scotland in January 2027. The first phase will apply to around 12,000 permitted waste receiving sites. As the service expands, over 100,000 operators are set to be in scope.

Mary Creagh, Minister for Nature, said: "Waste crime is a wicked business and the paper system we inherited was not fit for purpose. Through our Waste Crime Action Plan, we are tightening the net on the waste cowboys.

"Our Digital Waste Tracking Service will give authorities better, more reliable evidence to go after rogue operators and shut them down.

"It will also speed paperwork up for legitimate operators and cut red tape at the same time."