Introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking

Contact

Aidan Robson

(Team Leader Zero Waste Policy)

Zero Waste

Results updated 15 Dec 2022

From 21 January 2022 to 15 April 2022, the UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, consulted jointly on the introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking. Whilst waste policy is a devolved matter, the UK government and devolved governments have agreed to work together to develop a UK wide waste tracking service to provide a seamless system across the UK.

The UK is committed to moving towards a more circular economy, meaning we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract maximum value from them, minimise waste and promote resource efficiency. To do this we must ensure we have information about what waste is being produced and where it ends up. There is currently no single or comprehensive way of tracking this waste, with large amounts of data either not collected or not collated centrally.

Joining these fragmented systems up and replacing paper-based record-keeping through digital waste tracking will make it easier and less time consuming for legitimate waste companies to comply with reporting requirements, whilst making it much harder for rogue operators to compete in the industry and commit waste crime including fly tipping, deliberate misclassification of waste, illegal waste exports and the operation of illegal waste sites.

The Environment Act 2021 provides governments across the United Kingdom with the powers to introduce regulations to establish an electronic system for tracking waste and the consultation sought thoughts on our proposals for this.

Overview

This consultation is seeking views on our proposals for the implementation of a mandatory digital waste tracking service. In particular, it seeks thoughts on:

accessing the data on the waste tracking system
fees and charges
exemptions and alternative requirements for digitally excluded persons
offences and sanctions

Whilst waste policy is a devolved matter, the UK Government and devolved administrations have agreed to work together to develop a UK-wide waste tracking service to provide a seamless system across the UK.

Accordingly, this consultation is being undertaken jointly by the UK Government, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland

Why your views matter

The update to our Climate Change Plan sets out our intention to take steps to improve waste data by working with the UK Government, other devolved governments, and agencies such as SEPA, to develop and implement a digital waste tracking system.

Passage of the Environment Bill will give governments of all four nations in the UK the powers to introduce regulations to establish an electronic system for tracking waste. The Bill allows for those regulations to require certain information relevant to waste tracking to be recorded onto the system and contain provisions on several areas including:

accessing the data on the waste tracking system
fees and charges
exemptions and alternative requirements for digitally excluded persons
offences and sanctions

The purpose of this consultation is to present and seek thoughts on our proposals for each of the areas above.

What happens next

We will use the feedback from the consultation to review and refine our proposals, which will then be reflected in secondary legislation and shape the digital design of the waste tracking service.

We, therefore, do not intend to run further public consultations on the secondary legislation.

Interests

Environment and Climate Change