Every load has to be described by an EWC code. Those are the six digit European Waste Catalogue codes, for example 17 01 01 for concrete, and they have to be on the transfer note and on what goes to DEFRA.
Most of the time you do not look one up
When your driver photographs the load, LoadSnap reads the photo and fills in the description and a likely waste code for them. The same happens on a receipt at the weighbridge and on the office forms: photograph it, or describe the waste in plain words, and a code is suggested.
It is a suggestion, not a decision. Whoever is on the screen can change it before it is saved, and the code that ends up on the paperwork is the one your team agreed to. That is the point: the person in the yard is not asked to know 850 codes, and the person checking it is not asked to type one from memory.
When you want to look one up yourself
Waste Code Search is the whole list, searchable, so nobody in your office is scrolling a government PDF looking for one. It also covers hazardous properties, POPs, disposal and recovery codes and container types.
In the sidebar, under Tools, click Waste Code Search.
Type what the waste actually is, in your own words. Mixed construction, plasterboard, waste oil. You do not need to know the number.
Narrow it down if there is too much back: pick a chapter such as Construction & demolition, or switch the filter from All to Hazardous only or Non-hazardous only.
Hover the code you want and click the copy icon.
Paste it onto the job, the collection or the receipt you are filling in. Or use the plus button next to the copy icon, which starts a new record with that code already on it.
The other tabs
Hazardous properties. The HP codes, which say why a waste is hazardous, for example HP7 for something carcinogenic.
POPs. Persistent organic pollutants. These turn up in old upholstered furniture and have to be handled and recorded separately.
Disposal / Recovery. The D and R codes, which say what happens to the waste at the end. R3 is recycling, D1 is landfill.
Container types. The container wording DEFRA expects, rather than what your yard calls it.
Worth knowing
A code marked Hazardous carries an asterisk after the number, and that asterisk belongs on the paperwork.
Codes marked Mirror come in pairs, one hazardous and one not, and which one applies depends on what is actually in the load. If in doubt, get it tested rather than guessing. This is the case where it is worth checking the suggestion rather than accepting it.
Anything marked Catch-all ends in 99. Use one only when nothing else fits. The Environment Agency discourages them, and the screen will point you back at the rest of that chapter to look for something more specific.
Recently used sits at the top of the EWC tab before you type anything, so the codes your business actually uses are one click away and the second week is quicker than the first.
Clear all, next to the filters, puts the page back to how it started if you have narrowed it down too far.
Related: What you must record under Digital Waste Tracking. Consignee returns for hazardous waste.