Digital waste transfer notes, made from the job and signed in the app
A digital waste transfer note is the duty of care record for a non-hazardous waste transfer, created, signed and stored electronically. AxiWaste makes it when the driver completes the lift, with the EWC code from your catalogue, and keeps it with the licence evidence. This page is for carriers, brokers, skip hire firms and receiving sites in the UK.
Digital WTNs at a glance
Legal
Electronic signatures are accepted as long as an enforcement officer can view them.
What is on it
EWC code, quantity, container, time and place, SIC code, both parties, their registration numbers and signatures.
How long
Keep WTNs and season tickets for 2 years. Hazardous consignment notes: 3 years.
Defra
Receiving sites also report each receipt to Defra within 2 working days, a separate duty.
Paper is not required
Nothing in the duty of care requires a paper note. The waste duty of care code of practice says the signature on a waste transfer note can be electronic as long as an enforcement officer can view it. Defra runs edoc, a free national electronic duty of care system that creates, shares, signs and stores waste transfer notes and season tickets online.
What matters is that the note is complete, signed by both parties, kept for the right period and can be produced when asked. A digital note that is made from the job record is more likely to be complete than a paper pad filled in from memory in the cab.
What a waste transfer note must show
Section 3.5 of the duty of care code says the description must contain all the information you are reasonably in a position to provide. In summary:
| Field | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| EWC / List of Wastes code | The six-digit code for each waste stream, for example 20 03 01 mixed municipal waste. One per stream, not one per job. |
| Quantity, nature and containment | How much, what it is, and whether it is loose or in a container, and which type. |
| Time and place of transfer | When and where the waste changed hands. |
| Transferor's SIC code | The 2007 Standard Industrial Classification code of the business handing the waste over. |
| Both parties | Names, addresses and signatures of the person handing over and the person receiving. |
| Capacity and authorisation | Whether each party is a producer, registered carrier and so on, with the permit, exemption or registration number. |
| Waste hierarchy statement | Confirmation that the waste hierarchy duty has been applied. |
Source: Waste duty of care: code of practice, section 3.5. Print this as a checklist.
What changes when the note is digital
| Paper pad in the cab | AxiWaste digital WTN | |
|---|---|---|
| EWC code | Written from memory | Taken from your controlled catalogue, per stream |
| Parties and addresses | Copied by hand | Taken from the job record |
| Weight | Written from the ticket | From a networked indicator, a ticket photo, a container default or manual entry |
| Signatures | Ink, if the customer is there | Driver and site sign on the device; timestamped and locked |
| Carrier registration | Checked at onboarding, if at all | Re-checked nightly against the Environment Agency public register |
| Finding it later | In a box, by month | On the job record, with the licence evidence |
| Defra receipt report | Re-keyed into Defra's spreadsheet | Sent through the Receipt of Waste API with retry |
From lift to archive, without a pen
Book
The job holds the customer, site, disposal site and waste lines with EWC codes.
Complete
The driver confirms the lift offline, with photos and the weight.
Generate
The WTN renders from the job. Hazardous lines switch to consignment-note treatment.
Sign
Driver and site sign on the device. The note is timestamped and locked.
Report
Receipts go to Defra's Receipt of Waste API with retry; the note is archived.
Regular collections and season tickets
A season ticket is a single waste transfer note that covers a series of transfers of the same non-hazardous waste to the same carrier. It can last up to a year, can list several sites serviced by the same carrier in a schedule, and is kept for 2 years. You should still keep a record of collection times and quantities.
AxiWaste issues season tickets as their own document type, alongside single waste transfer notes, with EWC and SIC codes included. For recurring commercial rounds, the collection records behind them come from the completed jobs in AxiWaste. Trade waste software.
The WTN and the Defra report are different duties
The waste transfer note is the duty of care record between the person handing waste over and the person receiving it. Digital waste tracking adds a separate duty: since 1 October 2026, permitted and licensed receiving sites in England and Wales must report each receipt to Defra within 2 working days. Scotland and Northern Ireland follow from 1 January 2027, and carriers, brokers and dealers are planned from October 2027.
Because AxiWaste makes both from the same job record, the EWC codes and weights on the note are the ones in the Defra report.
Digital Waste Tracking explained · Consignment note software
What it costs
AxiWaste is priced per user. Licences start from £35 per admin user and £4 per driver a month, excluding VAT. A team of 2 admin users and 4 drivers starts from £86 a month. Configuration, bespoke work and integrations are quoted separately.
The same licences cover the notes, the driver app, Defra submission and the rest of the platform: sales and CRM, dispatch, route planning and invoicing. The £26 a year Defra service fee for receiving sites is separate and paid to the government service.
Digital waste transfer note questions
Are digital waste transfer notes legal?
Yes. The waste duty of care code of practice says a signature can be electronic as long as an enforcement officer can view it. Defra also runs edoc, a free national electronic duty of care system for WTNs and season tickets.
What must a waste transfer note include?
The EWC (List of Wastes) code, quantity, nature of the waste and how it is contained, time and place of transfer, the transferor's SIC code, both parties' names, addresses and signatures, each party's capacity and permit, exemption or registration number, and a waste hierarchy statement.
How long do I keep waste transfer notes?
2 years for non-hazardous waste transfer notes and season tickets, under section 3.6 of the duty of care code. Hazardous waste consignment notes are kept for 3 years.
What is a season ticket?
A single waste transfer note that covers a series of transfers of the same non-hazardous waste to the same carrier, for up to a year. You should keep a record of collection times and quantities.
Is a WTN the same as the Defra receipt report?
No. The WTN is the duty of care record between the parties to a transfer. The receipt of waste report is what a permitted receiving site sends to Defra within 2 working days. In AxiWaste both come from the same job record.
Can drivers sign without signal?
Yes. The driver app works offline and syncs the signed note when it is back in coverage.
What does Defra's software provider list mean?
GOV.UK's page Report receipt of waste: choose a software provider lists providers that have self-certified their software against the digital waste tracking requirements: integration with the Receipt of Waste API and passing the Production Approval Test (PAT) scenarios Defra publishes. The page does not rank or compare providers. Defra says buying software is at your own risk and that the list is not exhaustive.
How is AxiWaste listed?
On the GOV.UK list the provider is Axithorn and the product is Axiwaste (checked 5 November 2026; the page was last updated 23 October 2026).
What does “exempt for certain PAT scenarios” mean?
Some product entries on Defra's list carry that note. GOV.UK says providers must show their software supports the 14 PAT scenarios and must make clear to customers which scenarios it does not support. The note applies to the entries that carry it, not to every provider, so ask any provider which scenarios it supports. The AxiWaste entry carries no such note.
Is the £26 Defra fee part of the software price?
No. The digital waste tracking service fee is £26 a year per organisation, paid to the government service and covering all of that organisation's waste-receiving sites, with the first payment due by 31 January 2027 (GOV.UK). It is separate from any software licence.
Keep reading
Consignment note software
WTNs and hazardous consignment notes from one job record.
Hazardous waste consignment notes
Parts A to E, codes, records and consignee returns.
WTN and consignment note checklist
A printable checklist for the office and the cab.
See a WTN generated from a job in 20 minutes
Bring one of your current notes and we will build the same transfer in AxiWaste.
See a digital WTN generated live from a real job
Twenty minutes, your own examples if you like.