One Month On, Digital Waste Tracking Is On Course for 16% More Carrier Registrations

In our first look at the register, new waste carrier registrations in England had more than tripled around the 1 October switch to digital waste tracking. Two weeks on, we can put a number on it. Compared with the level we'd normally expect at this time of year, England has had about 7,400 extra carrier registrations since mid-September. The peak was the week to 10 October, with 3,201 registrations against a normal week of around 1,240.

The rush is fading fast. Extra registrations roughly halved in the week to 24 October, and at that pace registrations should be back to normal by December. That would bring the total to about 9,000, and depending on how quickly it fades, the final figure is likely to land between 7,500 and 11,000. A normal year brings around 57,000 new carrier registrations in England. Digital waste tracking is on course to add about 16% on top of that, roughly two months' worth of registrations in a few weeks.

Scotland doesn't bring in digital waste tracking until January 2027. If carrier registrations were rising across the UK for some other reason, Scotland would be rising too. It isn't. SEPA has granted a steady 50 to 85 new carrier registrations a week since April, with no rise in September or October. Over the same weeks England rose to nearly three times its usual level, and Wales, which went live on the same day, to two and a half times. The three registers are very different sizes, so the chart below shows each nation against its own normal week.

Most are new to the register. Only 6.6% of companies registering in the last fortnight already held a carrier registration, and 72% were set up more than two years ago. Half of all new registrations are sole traders.

Some businesses may simply have registered earlier than they otherwise would, so the lasting effect could be a little smaller. We'll keep tracking the registers each week, and Scotland's deadline in January will be the next test.

The figures come from the public carrier registers, which Wasters downloads every day: the Environment Agency's for England, Natural Resources Wales and SEPA. They count new registrations and leave renewals out. England's run to 25 October 2026, and Wales's and Scotland's to 22 October. Our first analysis explains the method.