The 111 permitted waste sites in County Durham, and what digital waste tracking means for them

What it means for a site in County Durham

• Every load in has to be reported within two working days of the day after it arrives. A load tipped Monday morning is due by Wednesday night.
• 23 fields a load — the carrier and their registration, the vehicle, the waste code, the weight, how it arrived and what happens to it.
• Two legal routes only: Defra's own spreadsheet template, or software listed on GOV.UK as a compatible provider. Your own spreadsheet is not one of them.
• Paper does not stop. Transfer notes and consignment notes carry on alongside the digital service. There is no end date for them yet.
• Not complying is an offence. GOV.UK lists a compliance notice, a £1,000 fixed monetary penalty, a variable monetary penalty, or prosecution and an unlimited fine (what the rules say).
• The commonest here are 16 End of Life Vehicles <2500 tonne per year, 15 Non-hazardous waste physical treatment facility, 14 Metal Recycling Site (vehicle dismantler) and 14 Household, Commercial and Industrial Waste Transfer Station.

The register for County Durham

Taken from the Environment Agency public register. Being listed means a permit was granted - it does not settle whether digital waste tracking applies to you. Sites that receive waste are in Phase 1, which started on 1 October 2026; Defra confirm it on 03000 203 781.

What it costs to comply

DEFRA's spreadsheet is free and works — for a site taking a handful of loads a week it is a perfectly reasonable answer, and it is worth saying so. Software earns its money when the typing does not fit in the day, or when a bounced submission on day two would make the record late.

Byrne Waste Tracking is from £89 a month per site, all in: no VAT to add, every user and every load included. It is free to start, with no card. No setup fee, and you see your price before you pay anything. No contract and no minimum term. It checks each load against DEFRA's rules before it saves, so a wrong carrier registration is caught at the gate rather than on the deadline, and once your DEFRA account is linked it sends each load for you. There are other providers on DEFRA's list: compare them before you pay anybody anything, including me.

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