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Every receipt filed, inside the deadline

Digital waste tracking is a duty rather than a feature, and DEFRA does not allow a filed movement to be deleted. Heavy Tech builds the submission from the ticket your weighbridge already raises, and sends it once the day has stopped moving.

DEFRA Waste Tracking
1
Past the deadline
3
Needs attention
34
Filed in the last 24 hours
Last nightly run completed Wednesday 9 September at 20:04. The next one goes at 20:00, after weighing has finished.
TicketSiteReceivedRegistrationCustomerWhat went wrongDeadlineWaste Tracking IDStatus
WB-12094Ripon Transfer Station08/09/2026 14:52PN26 AXDNetwork Plus Services LtdThe producer has no permit number on file, and this EWC code needs one.Overdue by 1 dayFailed
WB-12097Ripon Transfer Station09/09/2026 08:14SN26 VRWFox Brothers (Lancashire) LtdThe carrier registration lapsed on 01/08/2026. Renew it or record why there is none.Due today, 17:00Invalid
WB-12099Boroughbridge Depot09/09/2026 09:41RK20 EPUArgyle North West Construction LtdHazardous load with no consignment note number, and no reason given for the absence.
A correction was sent but not confirmed. Check the movement before sending it again.
Due tomorrow, 17:00Failed
WB-12101Ripon Transfer Station09/09/2026 11:06W300 RBSMayo Stone Supplies LtdFiled 09/09 20:04WM24-8FQ2-KD71
WB-12102Ripon Transfer Station09/09/2026 12:20PE23 UTCBaxters Supplies LimitedFiled 09/09 20:04WM24-8FQ2-KD84
WB-12105Boroughbridge Depot10/09/2026 07:02YK71 XSDCheshire Soils & Aggregates LtdTonight’s run, 20:00Pending
WB-12108Ripon Transfer Station10/09/2026 07:29RX68 YRZNetwork Plus Services LtdTonight’s run, 20:00Pending

The waste tracking screen opens on the movements that need a person, not on the whole list — press Show all movements to see the rest. Tickets and customers are invented. The plain-English wording in “What went wrong” is the product's own: DEFRA's terms do not allow their validation text to be shown to staff.

The trap is a ticket that looks finished

Neither a weighbridge job nor an e-ticket has a “weighing complete” flag, and both produce a plausible net weight before the weighing is done. A job saved with the gross entered and the tare still at zero gives a net equal to the gross — a large, entirely wrong, entirely believable number.

A system that files as soon as a ticket has a weight and the required fields will file that number. It will also file the ticket for the lorry that was turned away, the load booked against the wrong customer, and the registration that was mistyped and corrected ten minutes later. Every one of them becomes a permanent record on your permit, followed by a corrected one.

Closing the ticket is no better a trigger. Closing is an operator action at the bridge, and plenty of tickets sit saved for days until someone bulk-closes them at invoicing. File on close and you would routinely miss the deadline.

How the run works

Nothing reaches DEFRA during the working day. At 20:00 the worker takes every ticket that is complete, unsent and not voided, and files it.

Set after weighing stops

Sites finish weighing by 18:00, so the cutoff sits at 20:00 — two hours of room for a late load and for tickets to be tidied up. It is configuration, not code, so it moves without a deploy.

Every day, weekends included

Sites weigh at weekends. The two-working-day clock excludes them, but there is no reason to sit on a Saturday's waste until Monday — a Saturday receipt files that evening with three days of slack rather than one.

Not limited to today

The sweep takes any complete ticket, not just ones received that day. A ticket received yesterday and only finished this morning goes out tonight, still well inside its deadline.

Void stops being awkward

A ticket voided the same day was never filed, so there is nothing to withdraw — and withdrawal is the one thing DEFRA does not permit. Once a ticket has been sent, Void is no longer offered and edits become amendments.

A missed run is visible

The next run picks up whatever the last one missed, and the deadline allows for it. The morning digest lists anything unsent with its deadline, and warns if the worker's heartbeat is stale.

Live keys cannot leak

A production key in any other environment stops the application at startup rather than warning and carrying on. So does a test key in production, and so does one key configured against two sites.

What's in it

  • Waste movements filed to the digital waste tracking service, one API key per permitted site
  • A nightly submission run at 20:00, after weighing has finished, so same-day corrections never reach DEFRA
  • Two-working-day deadline tracked per ticket, excluding weekends and bank holidays
  • Incomplete tickets held back and listed on the next morning’s digest with the time they have left
  • EWC codes, hazard codes, POPs, physical form and container type carried on the ticket itself
  • Hazardous waste consignment codes required and enforced on the codes that need them
  • Producer organisation, address, postcode, permit and SIC code recorded against the movement
  • Amendments handled after submission, with Void withdrawn once a ticket has been filed
  • Startup refuses to run if a live key is configured against a test environment, or the reverse

Questions we get asked

What is digital waste tracking?

It is the service every site that receives, carries or produces waste in the UK now files to. Each movement is submitted as a record with its EWC code, weight, carrier and producer details. Heavy Tech builds that record from the weighbridge ticket you already raise, so there is no second system to key it into.

How long do I have to file a waste receipt?

Two working days, counted from the day after the waste is received, excluding weekends and bank holidays. Waste in at 09:00 on a Monday must be filed by 23:59 on the Wednesday. A rejected submission has to be corrected inside the same window.

Why does Heavy Tech file in the evening rather than as tickets are raised?

Because most corrections happen on the day. A re-weigh, a mistyped registration, a load booked to the wrong customer, a lorry turned away — file during the day and each of those becomes a permanent record plus an amendment. Filing at 20:00, after weighing has finished, means the day’s corrections never reach DEFRA and the record is right first time. The two-working-day deadline leaves ample room for it.

What happens if a ticket is not finished by the cutoff?

It is not sent. It appears on the next morning’s digest as unsent with its deadline shown, still with a full working day of slack, and is picked up by the following night’s run once it is completed. The submission worker records a heartbeat, so the digest also warns you if a run did not happen at all.

Can a filed movement be deleted?

No. DEFRA provides no way to delete a submitted record. It can be amended, but every amendment is itself part of the permanent legal record on your permit. This is the single reason the filing trigger is designed the way it is.

How does it handle a half-weighed ticket?

It refuses to file it. Both weighbridge jobs and e-tickets derive a net weight that looks plausible before weighing is finished — a job saved with the gross entered and the tare still zero produces a net equal to the gross. The run only takes tickets that are complete, unsent and not voided.

Can I run more than one permitted site?

Yes. Each receiving site is configured with its own API key against its own permit. The application refuses to start if two sites share a key, if one key is configured against two sites, or if a live key appears outside the production environment.

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