Start with the official template
Register your organisation for Defra’s Report receipt of waste service, then download its spreadsheet. Keep the original format: do not use your own file, change the layout or add comments.
Download Defra’s spreadsheet or open the service guidance. We checked the download on 15 October 2026; its cover says version v.1. Use the current download even if the cover’s version number has not changed.
What is inside
The file has ten sheets. Two take your records: 7. Waste movement level for the load, and 8. Waste item level for what it contains. The others provide instructions, definitions, code lists and dropdown values.
Enter the load and its waste items
Give the load a reference, such as its ticket number. Enter that same reference on its waste-item rows so Defra can link them. A load can have more than one waste item; it is not always one row on each sheet.
- Waste movement: the load
- Enter the receiving site and its authorisation, receipt date and time, who carried the waste and how it arrived. Add the vehicle registration for road transport and the consignment details where required.
- Waste items: what was in it
- Enter the waste description, classification code, physical form, containers and weight. Say whether the weight is estimated and whether the waste is hazardous or contains persistent organic pollutants (POPs). These are chemicals that break down slowly and can build up in food chains.
- Recovery or disposal
- Choose the code describing the treatment or recovery operation. Supply its weight, unit and whether that weight is actual or estimated. Hazardous waste and POPs need extra details; follow the file’s definitions and code lists.
How many columns are there?
The download checked on 15 October 2026 has 29 movement columns and 18 item columns. Across those two sets, 22 are labelled mandatory and eight conditionally mandatory. Fourteen are optional; three are for returned errors or the waste tracking ID.
Those are column labels, not 47 answers to type for every load. Follow the definitions for each field, including alternatives such as a carrier registration number or the reason none is held. Leave the returned-error fields blank. The waste tracking ID is blank for a new movement and is used when updating one.
Take care with the waste code
The European Waste Catalogue (EWC) code is the six-digit code describing the waste. The template tells you to prefix a single code with an apostrophe so Excel does not turn it into a date. Use no spaces in the codes. Where several codes are entered together, separate them with semicolons and follow the item-sheet guidance.
Upload, then check the result
You can put several loads in one file before uploading. Sites belonging to the same organisation can share a file; different organisations need separate files. After submitting, start a fresh spreadsheet for the next submission.
Check for errors and for the waste tracking reference returned for each movement. Uploading a file is not enough if the record is rejected. Correct rejected records within the reporting deadline. You need the existing waste tracking ID to update a movement that has already been accepted.
The deadline and charge are the same
Submit each record and receive its reference by the end of the second working day after the load arrives. Weekends and bank holidays do not count. That deadline applies to spreadsheets and software alike.
The template is free to download. Defra’s service costs £26 a year per organisation, covering all its receiving sites. The first payment is due by 31 January 2027. That charge is separate from any software subscription.
Continue the waste notes and returns your yard is required to keep. The current GOV.UK guidance says these run alongside Digital Waste Tracking. Read the reporting duties and which paperwork continues.
Where ScrapLog comes in
For a permitted site with its details and Defra API code saved before the first load, ScrapLog prepares waste records from the loads entered at the gate. With the usual setting, completing the load makes its record ready to send. The office still checks records needing attention and confirms acceptance on ScrapLog’s Defra page.
£200 a month per site and £300 once to set the yard up. The spreadsheet is worth trying if you can collect the information, upload it and deal with errors within the deadline.
How ScrapLog handles waste tracking · What it costs
Sources
Template and guidance checked on 15 October 2026. Defra can update the file; its current download and instructions take precedence over these counts.
- Receipt of waste template spreadsheet — downloaded and inspected; cover version v.1
- Report receipt of waste — GOV.UK, updated 25 September 2026
- Check if you need to report the waste you receive — GOV.UK, updated 25 September 2026