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    All templatesEnvironment · 4 pages · Updated 21 October 2026

    Waste Register and Transfer Record Template

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    Four-page landscape A4 register of the waste that leaves one site (or arrives at it), one line per load or collection: date, waste description and form, List of Wastes (EWC) code, hazardous or not, quantity and unit, origin, carrier and its registration number, destination and its permit number, the recovery or disposal (R or D) code, the reference of the transfer note, consignment note or manifest, collection frequency, transport mode and notes. Around it: the register details, a table of which record is which (including the UK digital waste record that receiving sites in England and Wales have had to make since 1 October 2026), checks of carriers and destinations, the retention periods stated in the texts we read, and a review sign-off. The register points to the notes and does not replace them; it does not classify waste and is not legal advice.

    What's inside

    Page 1 (landscape A4): which record is which, the register details and the first lines

    A short table of the records the register points to (this register, the waste transfer note in England and Wales, the hazardous waste consignment note, the UK digital waste record and the US hazardous waste manifest) and the letters used for each

    1. Register details: organisation, the site and its address, the site's SIC code (asked for on England and Wales transfer notes), the register owner, version and date, the jurisdiction of the site, the site's own permit, exemption or registration numbers, and whether the site receives waste under a permit or licence
    2. Register of waste movements: one line per load or collection, with a Ref column and thirteen more: date, waste description and form, waste code (EWC / List of Wastes), hazardous yes or no, quantity and unit, origin (site, process), carrier and its registration number, destination and its permit number, treatment or recovery code (R or D), the transfer note, consignment note or manifest reference, collection frequency, transport mode and notes. One example line is filled in and 39 lines are empty; the heading row repeats on each page

    Pages 2 and 3: the register continues

    Page 4: checks, retention and sign-off

    1. Checks of carriers, brokers and destinations: name, role, registration, permit or exemption number, where and when it was checked, the next check and who checked, with one example line
    2. Retention periods stated in the texts we read: the EU Directive, transfer notes in England and Wales, the hazardous waste register in England and US manifests, each with its period and source, read on 21 October 2026
    3. Review and sign-off: review date, lines reviewed, gaps found, actions and reviewer; signatures for the register owner and the site or environmental manager; where the register and the notes are kept, and the next review

    The columns, the reference letters (TN, CN, M, DWT) and the example line are ours, to change.

    What requires or shapes this record

    No source opened for this page sets a register layout, and this form is not one that any law prescribes. The texts say what the records must hold, and they differ by place and by role. The EU Waste Framework Directive (Article 35) asks operators that need a permit to treat waste, producers of hazardous waste, and those who collect, transport, deal in or broker hazardous waste professionally for a chronological record of the quantity, nature and origin of the waste and, where relevant, its destination, frequency of collection, mode of transport and treatment method; Member States may extend that to producers of non-hazardous waste. In England the hazardous waste regulations ask producers, holders, consignors, brokers and dealers for the same facts in a chronological register, and the England and Wales waste regulations set what a transfer note for other controlled waste must say. Since 1 October 2026 the operator of a permitted or licensed site in England or Wales that receives controlled waste must also enter every load in Defra's digital service, and the paper notes continue alongside it. In the United States a hazardous waste shipment travels with a manifest, on paper or through EPA's e-Manifest. The register gathers these facts in one place so that a missing note, code or number shows up. It does not decide how a waste is classified, a completed register does not show that you comply, and this page is general information, not legal advice.

    • Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, Article 35 (record keeping) as amended by Directive (EU) 2018/851, Article 23(1) and Annexes I and II; EU (read on legislation.gov.uk and in the EU's consolidated text of 16 October 2025 on 21 October 2026)

      Article 35(1) says the establishments and undertakings that need a permit to carry out waste treatment (Article 23(1)), the producers of hazardous waste, and those that collect or transport hazardous waste on a professional basis or act as its dealers and brokers keep a chronological record of the quantity, nature and origin of the waste and of the products and materials that result from preparing for re-use, recycling or other recovery, and, where relevant, of the destination, frequency of collection, mode of transport and treatment method foreseen. They make the data available through the electronic registry that paragraph 4 asks each Member State to set up for hazardous waste. Article 35(2) says records on hazardous waste are kept for at least three years, or at least 12 months by those transporting it, and that documentary evidence that the management operations were carried out is supplied when the authorities or a previous holder ask. Article 35(3) lets Member States extend the duty to producers of non-hazardous waste. Annex I lists the disposal operations D1 to D15 and Annex II the recovery operations R1 to R13 used in the treatment or recovery column. The copy on legislation.gov.uk shows the Directive as it stood on 31 December 2020. EUR-Lex did not serve the Directive's pages on 21 October 2026, so we compared that copy with the EU's consolidated text of 16 October 2025 (which includes Directive (EU) 2025/1892), fetched from the EU Publications Office the same day: Article 35 and the two annexes' code ranges are the same in both. Each Member State applies the Directive through its own law, which may ask for more.

    • Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/988), regulation 35, Waste information (England and Wales; revised text on legislation.gov.uk, which listed no outstanding changes when read on 21 October 2026)

      When controlled waste is transferred, the written information that goes with it (the transfer note) must identify the waste by its List of Wastes code and a description, and state the quantity, whether it is loose or in a container and the kind of container, the time and place of transfer and the transferor's SIC code. It gives the names and addresses of the transferor and the transferee, is signed by both, states the role of each (producer, importer, transporter, local authority, permit holder with the permit number, a person exempt from a permit, registered carrier, broker or dealer with the registration number), and confirms that the transferor has met the waste hierarchy duty in regulation 12. It may be electronic, with an electronic signature. The transferor and the transferee keep it, or a copy, for at least 2 years and produce it on demand within 7 days. The regulation does not apply to hazardous waste moved with a consignment note completed under the hazardous waste regulations. The Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991, still often cited for transfer notes, were revoked in England and Wales on 29 March 2011 by these regulations and in Scotland on 1 March 2014, legislation.gov.uk records; the Scottish regulations that replaced them were not read for this page.

    • Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/894), regulations 1(3) and 49 (applies in England; revised text on legislation.gov.uk, read 21 October 2026)

      Despite the title, regulation 1(3) says that nothing in these regulations applies to Wales except regulation 1, Part 11 and regulation 5 so far as it relates to Part 11; Wales has its own hazardous waste regulations, which were not read for this page. Regulation 49 says a producer or holder of hazardous waste, and a consignor, broker or dealer where different, keeps a record of the quantity, nature, origin and, where relevant, the destination, frequency of collection, mode of transport and treatment method of the waste, and, where it is transported, particulars that identify the carrier. The record is kept while the person holds or controls the waste and for 3 years after it is transferred, chronologically in a register, at the premises where the waste is produced or held (at the principal place of business once those premises are no longer occupied, and always there for a dealer, broker or other consignor). That list is the core of this register's columns.

    • Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/729) and Digital Waste Tracking (Wales) Regulations 2026 (WSI 2026/105), text as made on legislation.gov.uk, with GOV.UK's guidance 'Digital waste tracking: check if you need to report the waste you receive' (last updated 19 October 2026); England and Wales

      Both sets of regulations came into force on 1 October 2026, the first in England and the second in Wales. In the England text, regulation 4 says the operator of a permitted facility that receives controlled waste records the information in Part 2 of Schedule 1 for each load and checks that it was entered in the digital waste tracking system by the end of the second working day after the day of receipt; the system confirms the entry with a digital waste record number (regulation 3). Errors are corrected within one month of the operator becoming aware of them (regulation 7), and the fee is £26 a year (regulation 5). Schedule 1 lists, among other items, the receiving site's permit number, the date and time of receipt, the carrier and its registration number (or why there is none), any broker or dealer, the mode of transport and the vehicle registration for road, a description, the six-digit waste code, the weight for each code with its unit and whether it is estimated or actual, the R or D code, the containers, the consignment note code for hazardous waste, the hazardous properties, persistent organic pollutants and the physical form. GOV.UK's guidance says the duty covers licensed or permitted receiving sites, including permitted sites where the waste is produced, sets out exceptions for household waste recycling centres and for digitally excluded operators, and says that until further notice waste transfer notes, Annex VII forms and hazardous waste consignment notes continue, as do waste returns and hazardous waste consignee returns. GOV.UK's 'Report receipt of waste' page gives January 2027 for Northern Ireland and Scotland, and Defra's policy paper (updated 1 October 2026) says this first phase covers receiving sites and plans the service for waste carriers, brokers and dealers from October 2027.

    • 40 CFR 262.40, Recordkeeping (US; eCFR, up to date as of 19 October 2026) and US EPA, The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (e-Manifest) System (page last updated 31 July 2026)

      A US generator keeps a copy of each signed hazardous waste manifest for three years or until it receives the signed copy from the facility that received the waste, and keeps that signed copy for at least three years from the date the initial transporter accepted the waste; the periods are extended automatically during an unresolved enforcement action ((a) and (d)). EPA's e-Manifest page (https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest) says the system carries the uniform manifest that accompanies hazardous waste shipments electronically, that on 5 March 2026 EPA published a proposal to phase out paper manifests, and links a map of state adoption of the e-Manifest rules. The US line on the form is for US sites; state rules were not read for this page.

    Each source checked on 21 October 2026. Not legal advice; check the text in force for your site.

    Field by field

    One block says what the register covers. Each line is one load or collection and is complete when a reader can see what left, how much, under which code, who took it, where it went and which note goes with it. The columns are the facts that Article 35 of the EU Directive and regulation 49 of the hazardous waste rules in England ask for, plus the reference to the note itself. The form supplies no classification, no check interval and no retention period of its own: the codes come from your classification, and the periods from the texts that apply to you or from your own procedure.

    Site name and address
    Why: A register belongs to one site. In England the hazardous waste register is kept at the premises where the waste is produced or held (regulation 49(5)), and transfer notes state the place of transfer.
    Common mistake: One register for a company with several sites, so nobody at a site can show its own loads.
    SIC code of the site
    Why: In England and Wales the transfer note states the transferor's SIC code (regulation 35(2)(a)(iv) of the 2011 regulations). Writing it once here saves looking it up for every note.
    Common mistake: Using the head office's code when the site's activity is different.
    Jurisdiction of the site
    Why: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, each EU Member State and the US have their own rules. Even the 2005 hazardous waste regulations for England and Wales apply only in England, and the digital duty starts later in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
    Common mistake: Assuming that one UK rule set covers every site.
    Date
    Why: The register is chronological (Article 35(1); regulation 49(4)). The date ties the line to its note and, at a receiving site in England or Wales, starts the two-working-day deadline for the digital record.
    Common mistake: Writing the date the invoice arrived instead of the date the waste left.
    Waste description and form
    Why: Transfer notes need a description (regulation 35(2)(a)), and the digital record asks for the physical form: gas, liquid, solid, powder, sludge or mixed. A good description says which process made the waste and what is in it.
    Common mistake: "General waste" or "drums", which says nothing about the contents.
    Waste code (EWC / List of Wastes)
    Why: The six-digit List of Wastes code identifies the waste on the transfer note and in the digital record. An entry marked with an asterisk is hazardous. The code comes from your classification.
    Common mistake: Choosing a 'not otherwise specified' code out of habit, or copying last year's code after the process changed.
    Hazardous? (Y/N)
    Why: It decides which note goes with the load (a transfer note or a consignment note), whether the hazardous waste register rules apply and how long records are kept. It is taken from the classification, not decided on the form.
    Common mistake: Ticking No because the waste looks harmless, with no classification behind it.
    Quantity and unit
    Why: Article 35 and regulation 49 ask for the quantity, and the digital record asks for the unit and whether the weight is estimated or actual. Saying which lets you reconcile your figure with the destination's weighbridge ticket.
    Common mistake: Mixing litres, kilograms and "1 skip" with no note of how the figure was found.
    Origin (site, process)
    Why: Article 35 and regulation 49 ask for the origin. Naming the process shows which activity produces the waste, which is where a reduction would start, and links the line to the environmental aspects register.
    Common mistake: Only the site name, so nobody can tell which process produced the waste.
    Carrier and its registration number
    Why: Regulation 49(2) asks for particulars that identify the carrier, the transfer note includes a registered carrier's registration number, and the digital record asks for that number or the reason there is none.
    Common mistake: The carrier's trading name only, or a number nobody has checked against the public register.
    Destination and its permit number
    Why: Article 35 and regulation 49 ask for the destination where relevant, and a transfer note gives a permit holder's permit number. The destination is the site where the waste was delivered.
    Common mistake: Writing the broker's office address instead of the site the waste went to.
    Treatment or recovery code
    Why: Article 35 and regulation 49 ask for the treatment method. The R and D codes of the Directive's annexes name it in a way two people read alike, and the digital record asks for an R or D code for each waste code.
    Common mistake: Writing "recycled" on every line when the destination's note says R13 storage or a D code.
    Transfer note, consignment note or manifest reference
    Why: The register points to the document that travelled with the load; the letters TN, CN, M and DWT are ours. In England and Wales a transfer note is kept for at least 2 years and produced on demand within 7 days, so it has to be findable from its line.
    Common mistake: A register with no references, so the notes cannot be found when someone asks for them.
    Collection frequency
    Why: Article 35 and regulation 49 list the frequency of collection where relevant. A stated frequency shows a missed collection or a sudden rise in a stream.
    Common mistake: "As needed" on every stream, so an overfull skip and a lapsed contract look the same.
    Transport mode
    Why: Article 35, regulation 49 and the digital record ask for the mode: road, rail, sea, air, inland waterway or pipe. For road the digital record also asks for each vehicle's registration.
    Common mistake: Leaving it blank because it is "always road", so a rail or pipeline transfer is missed.
    Notes
    Why: Holds the weighbridge ticket number, the hazardous properties from the classification and the reason a value is missing. The digital record asks for a reason when a code or a number cannot be given.
    Common mistake: Using the notes column for an action that has no owner or date.
    Checks of carriers, brokers and destinations
    Why: A registration or permit number helps only while it is valid. The section records where and when each one was checked and when it is next due; the form sets no interval.
    Common mistake: Checking a carrier once when the contract starts and never again.
    Retention periods stated in the texts we read
    Why: Lists only periods that a text states, each with its jurisdiction and source: the EU Directive for hazardous waste records, England and Wales transfer notes, the hazardous waste register in England and US manifests. Your procedure sets the period for your site.
    Common mistake: Deleting the register after two years when it holds hazardous lines that are kept longer.
    Review and sign-off
    Why: A review finds missing notes, codes or numbers and weights that do not match before an inspector does, and records what will be done about them.
    Common mistake: Signing the register without saying which lines were checked.

    Worked example

    IllustrativeFive lines from the register of an invented engineering plant in England, October 2026 (invented company, carriers, destinations, numbers and note references)

    DateWaste description and formWaste code (EWC / List of Wastes)Hazardous (yes or no)Quantity and unitOrigin (site, process)Carrier and its registration numberDestination and its permit numberTreatment or recovery codeTransfer note, consignment note or manifest referenceCollection frequencyTransport modeNotes
    2026-10-02Ferrous metal turnings from machining, solid, loose in a skip12 01 01No2.38 t, weighed at the destinationPlant A, machining cell 2Northway Haulage (invented), registration no. (invented)Riverside Metals (invented), permit no. (invented)R4TN WTN-118WeeklyRoadDestination's weighbridge ticket filed with the note
    2026-10-06Paper and cardboard packaging, baled15 01 01No0.9 t, estimated (6 bales of about 150 kg)Plant A, goods-inNorthway Haulage (invented), registration no. (invented)Mill Lane Paper (invented), permit no. (invented)R3TN WTN-119Every two weeksRoadOne bale is weighed each month to check the estimate
    2026-10-09Waste mineral lubricating oil from machine sumps, liquid, two 205 L drums13 02 05*Yes380 L, estimated by dipping the drumsPlant A, maintenance workshopEastern Oil Collections (invented), registration no. (invented)An oil re-refinery (invented), permit no. (invented)R9CN, code (invented)When both drums are fullRoadHazardous properties as recorded in the site's classification; the destination's confirmation of receipt is filed
    2026-10-14Oily wipes, absorbents and used oil filters, solid, one lidded drum15 02 02*Yes85 kg, weighed on sitePlant A, all workshopsEastern Oil Collections (invented), registration no. (invented)A treatment site (invented), permit no. (invented)D10CN, code (invented)MonthlyRoadSame carrier as the oil, on its own consignment note
    2026-10-15Mixed general waste from the offices and canteen, one 1,100 L bin20 03 01NoAbout 90 kg, estimatedPlant A, offices and canteenTown Waste Services (invented), registration no. (invented)A transfer station (invented), permit no. (invented)R13, as stated on the noteTN WTN-120WeeklyRoadCode and operation taken from the collector's note; check that they fit the waste

    The plant, carriers, destinations, numbers and note references are invented. The waste codes come from the List of Wastes and the R and D codes from the Directive's Annexes I and II, both looked up on legislation.gov.uk on 21 October 2026; whether a code fits a real waste is the site's own classification decision. Lines 3 and 4 carry an asterisk, so they are hazardous and travel with a consignment note instead of a transfer note. The plant holds no permit to receive waste, so in this first phase the digital record of each load is made by the receiving sites, which need the code, quantity, carrier and note shown here. Every quantity says how it was found, so it can be checked against the destination's weight.

    When a spreadsheet stops being enough

    A spreadsheet or this printed register works for one site with a few regular streams and one person who files the notes. It stops working when several sites send waste to many destinations, when carrier registrations and destination permits have to be checked before each contract, when the weights on the notes have to be matched with the destinations' tickets, and when someone asks for the notes behind a line within days.

    A software record holds each load with its code, quantity, parties and note attached, reminds you when a carrier or destination check is due, and totals the waste by stream, code and R or D operation for reporting. In England and Wales a site that receives waste under a permit has had to report each load to Defra's service since 1 October 2026, through software connected to Defra's API or through Defra's own spreadsheet, and GOV.UK publishes a list of software that has passed Defra's tests. Ask a vendor whether its product is on that list and which test scenarios it is exempt from. The list below applies the rule used by the waste management software guide. Nothing in it shows that a product is on Defra's list or keeps a register like this one, so test it with a month of your own loads.

    Same rule for every product: tagged “Waste Management” or “Environmental Management”, with a sourced waste or manifest capability in its record, or one the vendor stated to us, labelled as vendor-stated. Documented and conditional capabilities qualify; check the linked scope before treating a module as included.

    Tekmon pays for a sponsored placement (above); its place in this list follows the same rule as every entry. How lists are ordered

    All 11 matching profiles are shown. Documentation review, not hands-on testing or a claim of compliance.