How to get your DEFRA Digital Waste Tracking code

Digital Waste Tracking (DWT) is the service that replaces paper waste transfer and consignment notes. Before you can accept loads through it, your organisation needs an API code from DEFRA. It's a one-off bit of setup, and it trips people up because the code isn't something you make up — DEFRA issues it once your organisation is registered and your sites are approved.

Here's the whole process, start to finish, and where the code lands in LoadSnap once you have it.

What the code is (and isn't)

The DWT API code is a unique identifier — a UUID, something like b74cbf3c-e9e2-43f3-bd6b-009d37a8d677 — that ties your organisation to DEFRA's tracking service. DEFRA issues one code per organisation, and its own guidance is explicit that you can use the same code to send waste movements for every site that organisation operates. Individual sites are identified on each movement by their permit or exemption number, not by a code of their own. It is not your waste carrier registration number, your permit number, or your Companies House number. If you run several legal entities on one DEFRA account, each entity gets its own code.

What it costs

Registering carries an upfront annual charge of £26, which buys 12 months of rolling access. It is charged per organisation on your DEFRA account, not per waste-receiving site, so a company with six sites pays once. The charge has applied since the service became mandatory on 1 October 2026, and it is paid to DEFRA. It has nothing to do with what your software costs.

Step by step

1. 01Make sure each site already holds the right environmental permit or exemption. DWT registration sits on top of your permit — it doesn't replace it.
2. 02Register your organisation on DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking service, signing in with your organisation's Government Gateway or GOV.UK One Login rather than a personal one.
3. 03Add each receiving site to your DWT account, matching it to its permit. DEFRA validates the site against the permit register.
4. 04Once your organisation is registered, DEFRA issues its API code. This is the value you'll paste into LoadSnap.
5. 05Repeat only if you run more than one legal entity — each organisation on the account gets its own code.

Common hold-ups

• Permit not matched: if DEFRA can't match the site to a live permit, approval stalls. Check the permit number is exactly as it appears on the register.
• Using the wrong identifier: the code is a UUID. If what you've been given is a short reference or a permit number, it isn't the API code — go back to your organisation's DWT record.
• Expecting a code per site: you won't get one. Sites are added to the organisation and identified on each movement by permit number, and the organisation's single code carries them all.
• Registering as a person: sign in with the organisation's Government Gateway or GOV.UK One Login, not a personal account, or the registration sits under the wrong entity.

Once it's connected

With a verified code in place, every receipt you log against that site can be submitted to DEFRA digitally — no paper, no re-keying. LoadSnap shows the live connection status next to each site, so you always know which sites are ready and which still need their code.

If you'd rather not set this up yourself, our team can walk you through registration and test each site's connection with you.

LoadSnap team

UK waste compliance

Written by the team building LoadSnap, the UK waste compliance platform for carriers and receivers.