From 1 October 2026, if you run a permitted or licensed waste receiving site, you must report the waste you take in to DEFRA digitally. To do that you need to register with DEFRA, get your own unique API code, and connect it to an approved software solution. Here is exactly how, step by step.

From 1 October 2026 (1 January 2027 in Scotland), receiving sites must report waste receipts to DEFRA digitally through the Report receipt of waste service. There are two ways to do it:

Either way you register with DEFRA, and there is an annual DEFRA service charge of 26 pounds per organisation from October 2026. That fee goes to DEFRA, not to your software provider.

Go to the Report receipt of waste guidance on GOV.UK and register your organisation. You will need a Government Gateway or GOV.UK One Login account, and the details of the permitted or licensed sites you operate.

Once you have registered, DEFRA issues your organisation a unique API code. This is the key that links your site's waste receipt records to your organisation's account on DEFRA's system, and authenticates the digital connection. Keep it safe, as it is what lets your software submit on your behalf.

To submit through software rather than by hand, you need a provider whose API connection has passed DEFRA's production approval tests (PAT) and that appears on DEFRA's public list of providers for the Report Receipt of Waste service. You can check that list on the GOV.UK choose a software provider page.

LoadSnap is one of these providers. Our API connection has passed DEFRA's PAT process and LoadSnap is listed on GOV.UK. To be precise about what that means: passing PAT means the API connection has been tested and accepted by DEFRA for production use. It is not a DEFRA endorsement of the product, and DEFRA's own guidance is clear that using any third-party software is at the customer's own risk.

In LoadSnap, open your Digital Waste Tracking connection settings and paste in your DEFRA API code, then save. This is also one of the steps on your getting started checklist when you first set up. Once connected, the receipts you record are reported to DEFRA automatically, with no manual spreadsheet entry. Other approved providers work in a similar way.

You can choose to report without software by filling in and uploading DEFRA's spreadsheet template each time. It works, but it means keying the same information twice if you already record it elsewhere, which is why most sites connect software to the API instead.

In order, the path is simple: register on GOV.UK, get your API code, choose an approved provider, and enter the code. From then on you record receipts as normal and the reporting happens for you. With LoadSnap, DEFRA submission is included on every plan, including free, because compliance is a legal duty and should not sit behind a paywall.

For more on the rules, see DEFRA digital waste tracking, overview, The receiver workflow: from the weighbridge to DEFRA, and What you must record under Digital Waste Tracking. For timelines, the 26 pound charge, or how your specific site type is affected, DEFRA's Report receipt of waste guidance is the authoritative source.